The duo is currently ranked 21st on the leader board after claiming a career-best score of 76.3667 in the free routine preliminary behind competition leaders Russia, China and the Ukraine.

Only the top 12 teams after tonight’s competition will progress to the finals, but that won’t stop the Australians from bringing their best with an up-beat routine to iconic Rolling Stone’s hit Paint It Black.

The Australians, who both swam at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, are competing together for the first time internationally as a duet in Tokyo after closed borders disrupted their Games preparation. They were paired together at the end of 2020 after the retirement of Rio Olympian Rose Stackpole.

“We’re doing a strong rock and roll routine to ‘Paint It Black’, so super sharp, super strong, we really enjoy swimming to it. It’s a little bit shorter so that will be nice,” Rogers said.

“We haven’t been a duet for very long, but we’ve been in the national team for the last six years.

“We know each other well. Amie is a great leader in this duet, I just follow along and that works well for us - we have great communication.

“We’re always just trying to help each other as best as we can. I couldn’t ask for a better duet partner.”

The technical routine was revamped earlier this year by the athletes to new music and choreography to create a faster and funkier routine.

Ironically, the Rolling Stones’ hit was originally chosen as a fun exercise to swim old choreography to, but the team fell in love with the energy the song brought and decided to keep it and build on it.

Even with the restrictions on crowds at the Games, they hope the competitors and officials poolside will be energised by the techno beats and have just as much fun with it as the team.

Their goal is to portray the excitement and buzz of walking through Tokyo at night; the energy they felt when we first explored Japan together.

In a tribute to the host nation, the opening deck position represents the rising sun on the Japanese flag.

After achieving a personal best on debut as a duet, Thompson said she was hoping to cast away her nerves and just enjoy what is a remarkable opportunity to represent Australia at her second Olympic Games.

“I was more nervous than I thought I was going to be,” she said of the free routine preliminary.

“This is both our first competitions in duet at the Olympics. We were both in Rio together but that was for the teams’ event, so I was really nervous.

“I do a balance pose on the deck, so I was worried I was going to fall, which I’ve never done.

“Sometimes you get nervous at random things, but as soon as I dove in, I focused and all of that went away, so that was good.”

The Australians will be the 17th team to compete in tonight’s technical duet starting 8.30pm AEST.

Catriona Dixon