Ranjuo Tomblin sealed a quadruple-gold triumph in the artistic swimming at the European Aquatics Championships in Paris.
Tomblin has been rewriting the British history books on a regular basis over the last couple of years. He was the first British man to win a European title at Belgrade 2024 and the first from his country to win a World Cup medal when he clinched double gold in Paris last year.
Tomblin arrived in the French capital towing 17 medals he’d collected on the 2026 World Cup circuit.
His fourth gold came in the men’s free solo following victories in the men’s solo technical, mixed duet technical and mixed duet free.
Swimming first with his routine portraying a journey from struggle to empowerment, he immediately set the bar high with the highest DD of the final at 62.60, producing a performance none of his rivals could match to score 258.9188.
Ranjuo Tomblin & Izzy Thorpe: Photo COurtesy: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
“It’s a big relief (to win four gold medals). I’m really grateful to compete here, notwithstanding the results,” he told European Aquatics.
“For me, going first is nerve-wracking. You don’t know how the scores will be affected but it’s just about staying in the moment and luckily it worked out. Four gold medals are beyond my wildest dreams. I’d like to thank my coaches and my choreographer. Right now I’ll be having a big break. I’m still waiting for news on the mixed duets in LA but for now it’s time to rest.”
Filippo Pelati of Italy secured silver with 252.8713 points, collecting his fourth medal of the championships and Spain’s Jordi Caceres Iglesias completed the podium with bronze thanks to a score of 229.2599.
That followed the defence of his solo technical title with his routine set to George Michael’s ‘Careless Whisper’ earning 249.3951pts.
He joined forces with Izzy Thorpe as they claimed Great Britain’s first title in the mixed duet free before the pair returned for the mixed duet technical final.
They came out on top in a closely-fought battle with 229.6783pts to edge Italian duo Pelati and Lucrezia Ruggiero by 0.6691pts (229.0092). The Neutral Athletes pairing of Zakhar Trofimov and Alina Rumiantseva were third.
After securing their second title of the competition, Thorpe said “We’ve been to every World Cup stop so we’ve been with lots of other people this year. For me, coming from the duet to the mixed duet has been really nice and opened my eyes to what friendships you can make in the sport.”
Tomblin and Thorpe will go their separate ways as they focus on the Los Angeles Olympics two years hence.
“It’s been an amazing experience swimming with Izzy,” said Tomblin. “When I first partnered with her, I just didn’t want to disappoint her 0but now we have this amazing partnership and it has just been the best time.”
