FORMER St Albans secondary school pupil Olivia Federici has come ninth in today’s Olympic synchronised swimming duets final with partner Jenna Randall.

Team GB duo Jenna (team captain) and Olivia went through to the final this afternoon, August 7, after finishing ninth in the qualifying stage at the Aquatics Centre.

They were the first Team GB duet to reach the Olympic final in 20 years.

Russia won gold, Spain silver and China third.

Olivia, whose maiden name was Allison, lived in the city for nine years and attended St Albans Girls’ School (STAGS) from Years 7 to 11.

The 22 year old is now based in Portsmouth.

A commentator for the BBC praised the duo for being like sponges when it came to absorbing information, and commended their “fantastic” lifts during a “difficult” routine.

She added: “The crowd love it. They have worked so hard.”

Before competing Jenna said they had a few things to work on for the final, as they wanted to improve the technical aspect of their routine to make it “perfect”.

She added: “We’ve been putting in a lot of hard work and hours to be there; we do 45 hours a week and I think our reputation is improving, we want to work towards higher marks.”

Olivia said they wanted to, “give it everything we’ve got”.

It is Olivia’s and Jenna’s second consecutive Games, having finished 14th in Beijing four years ago.

The pair will appear again before the home crowd on Thursday for the team competition.