Ranjuo Tomblin wins historic gold in Paris

Holly Hughes and Ranjuo Tomblin celebrate their gold medal

Rushmoor member Ranjuo Tomblin made a little piece of history as he helped Great Britain secure a golden double at the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup. The 19-year-old won a first-ever World Cup medal for a British male in Paris as he topped the podium in the Men’s Tech Solo competition swimming for Great Britain in the World Artistic Swimming Competition.

It was Tomblin’s first senior medal on the world stage and followed the gold he picked up in the Men’s Free Solo at last year’s European Champions in Belgrade.

Tomblin said: “I totally didn’t expect it. We just came here to test our routines. I’m really grateful to have the chance to test our routines at the big competitions, so I’m just really happy, and I can’t really believe this has happened.

“When you win medals, it’s definitely like, ‘oh look, look at what I’m doing’ and it really shows what all the hard work is doing for us.”

And less than 24 hours later, he’d earned a second gold of the competition as he teamed up with Holly Hughes in the Mixed Tech Duet, a remarkable result as it was the pair’s first senior international event together.

They scored 182.9325 points for their routine, which left them clear winners ahead of the second-placed duet, Spain’s Jordi Caceres Iglesias and Aurora Lazaro Cabaleiro on 170.2192. Compatriots Dennis Gonzalez Boneu and Sara Saldana Lopez claimed the bronze.

“We’re obviously really happy with the result but there are things we know we need to improve on and we’re going take this experience and work on our routines and maybe increasing our degree of difficulty to really get that artistic impression in for the bigger competitions later in the year.”

Seventeen-year-old Hughes added: “It’s pretty cool as this is my first international competition competing with Ranjuo and he got the gold medal, so I thought ‘high expectations’ but we seem to have met them. He’s very encouraging and really helps me get through the competition.”