The final day of competition at the British Diving Championships saw Tom Daley and Grace Reid take impressive victories in the 10m Platform and 3m Springboard respectively.
After posting a dominant score of 549.10 in this morning’s prelims, Dive London’s Daley looked in strong form coming into the final.
Daley made an early impact, scoring 91.20 for his Inward 3 1/2 Somersaults tucked.
He remained in the lead from the third round and his Armstand Back triple Somersaults piked scored 98.00 to further his advantage over the rest of the field.
Daley finished with a score of 507.95 points and said: “There were a few dives in the final that I could have done better but overall I’m pretty happy overall with how it went today.
“I was diving solidly in the prelims, maybe even better than in my European Championships performance. There were a few things that I actually corrected in the final as last year my armstand and my reverse were two of my weaker dives that I would never have been able to score tens on so, to do that today is really handy at this time of the year.
“It’s always nice to come to Sheffield. It’s a great competition pool and there is always lots of people who come and watch so that creates a really good atmosphere in compete in, especially for Olympic Trials. We were here in 2012 so it’s nice to back plus I did my first ever World Series here too.”
Daley was pushed all the way by City of Leeds’ Matty Lee who won the silver medal with a score of 428.00, while Noah Williams (Dive London) won bronze with 389.05.
Edinburgh Diving’s Reid came from a shaky prelim to win the final of the women’s 3m Springboard.
The European Champion put in a consistent performance to score a total of 325.45.
She scored highest for her Front 3 ½ Somersaults piked with 68.20 points which was enough to move her into the lead of the competition.
She remained in the lead and finished with 72.00 points for her Front 2 ½ Somersaults 1 Twist piked.
“I feel amazing after winning that title today,” Reid said. “It doesn’t feel real and I think I’m a little bit in a day dream but I am so happy.
“The biggest thing that has kicked in this year is my mental attitude. The ability comes and goes but I think turning up to every event the same as training and it just seems to work.
“There are so many strong girls in that final and it is such a tough field that you’ve just gotta focus on yourself because everyone is capable of doing amazing things but if you focus on yourself the results take care of themselves.”
Rebecca Gallantree (City of Leeds) won the silver medal with a score of 286.50 points and Katherine Torrance (City of Leeds) took the bronze after scoring 261.30 points.
Swimming news courtesy of British Swimming.
