Team GB synchronised swimmers preparing for Tokyo with karate

Karate classes and anti-pollution activism are just two of the unorthodox ways in which synchronised swimmers Isabelle Thorpe and Kate Shortman are preparing to make their Olympic bow.

The Bristol teenagers are among nine British athletes selected to receive Olympic Solidarity Grants from the International Olympic Committee in order to help facilitate their bid to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Games.

The pair's current martial arts-themed routine has been making waves in their sport and earned them a career-best fifth-place finish at the artistic swimming World Series event in Paris last month.

"It's a Japanese-themed routine comprising different aspects of karate," said 17-year-old Shortman.

"We've had a few karate lessons and learned about breath control and the intention and power of your moves."

Thorpe and Shortman have trained together since the age of 10, dominating domestic age-group competitions until they moved into the senior ranks for the first time in 2016, finishing eighth at the European Championships.

Thorpe said the pair had been eager to highlight the problem of pollution in the world's oceans by performing their routine in a pool filled with plastic as part of The Big Bang youth science fair last month.

"Trying to do our routine in a pool full of plastic was really hard. We kept getting our legs stuck in the bags and bopping our heads on bottles," Thorpe said.

"It really hit home how awful it must be for the poor turtles and other sea life that go through that every day."

Thorpe and Shortman are currently juggling their sporting commitments with A-levels and admit a fervent desire to change its perception as an obscure add-on to the Games' high-profile swimming programme.

"When speed swimmers try synchro they'll say that they didn't realise how it is and how much skill you have to have, along with all the cardio-vascular strength and flexibility," added Shortman.

"There are so many hard elements, like holding your breath for so long while you're trying to look graceful, and presenting yourself while you feel like you're dying."

Solidarity Grants are applied for on behalf of athletes by their respective national Olympic committee, in this case the British Olympic Association, and comprise just over £300 per month.