The Russian synchronised swimmers will aim to secure a third European title in tomorrow’s final, having won the overall Duet crown in both 2010 and 2012. 

And while Ishchenko and Romashina finished on top of the pile in the prelims with 96.4667, they will hope to improve for the final, with this morning’s prelim their first competitive performance of their new Duet Free routine.

Ukraine’s Lolita Ananasova and Anna Voloshyna won bronze behind the Russians at the Worlds last year, and they look set to be medal challengers again after qualifying in second. The experienced duo, who won Duet silver at the 2014 European Championships in Berlin, will also expect to improve on their 92.2000 score from this morning’s prelims.

Great Britain’s Olivia Federici and Katie Clark also comfortably reached the final, scoring 79.7333 for their snakes routine to finish in ninth. And Clark, who finished sixth with Team GB in the Team event at London 2012 four years ago, admitted they had increased the difficulty of their routine since securing a spot at Rio 2016 earlier in the season.

“We’ve recently a lot of changes to our routine, since we qualified the Olympic quota place for Britain in Rio,” said Clark. “It’s a lot harder and more technical so it was the first time swimming that routine at competition. Were happy but we’ve got a look of work to before the final. “We’ve competed together for many years in the team events but this year we’ve started working together in the duet and it’s been great.”

Click here for full results from the Duet Free Prelims.