Courtesy: British Swimming
Noah Williams brought the curtain down on the British National Diving Cup with a sensational performance in a closely-contested Men’s 10m Platform final, with Yasmin Harper taking the Women’s 3m Springboard title on the final day.
The battle between Dive London Aquatics duo Williams and Kyle Kothari for the platform gold provided Edinburgh with a fitting finale spectacle on Sunday afternoon.
The first half of the event saw some of the best quality diving on show across the entire four-day competition, with consistently high-scoring from Williams, Kothari, Ben Cutmore and Matthew Dixon, who all qualified in the top four following the prelims session.
It was Kyle who took the early lead, his first Armstand Back 2 Somersaults 1 ½ Twists free (6243D) scoring him 81.60 points to put him at the head of the pack.
The competition stepped up as the event progressed towards the halfway mark – with Williams throwing down a solid 81.00 on his Back 2 ½ Somersaults 2 ½ Twists Pike (5255B) to keep him and Kothari firmly ahead of the other competitors.
The crowd at the Royal Commonwealth Pool were then treated to the highest-scoring dives of the entire competition towards the end of the event, with Kothari and Williams both excelling in their Forward 4 ½ Somersaults Tuck (109C) as they battled for the gold.
Kothari’s attempt on the penultimate round gave him the highest individual score of the entire competition (98.05), which was greeted with thunderous applause from the crowd to put him six points behind Williams with one round to go.
The final round provided an absolute spectacle. Noah, with the expectation of a huge dive to deliver, went just under Kothari’s best as his 94.35 points – including a score of 10 from one judge – laid down the challenge of Kyle requiring more than 100 points to secure the win.
Tried as he might, Kothari’s Back 2 ½ Somersaults 2 ½ Twists Pike (5255B) gave him an outstanding but not-quite-enough 93.60 points, as he finished on 476.00 to Williams’ 482.95.
World Junior medallist Robbie Lee (Southampton Diving Academy), meanwhile, put in some impressive dives of his own to take the bronze medal on 418.90 points, including an Inward 3 ½ Somersaults Tuck (407C) which scored him 81.60 points. His overall tally also earned him the junior title after a hugely promising display.
Earlier in the day, City of Sheffield Diving Club’s Yasmin Harper took the final women’s title of the competition, as she overcame strong opposition from Katherine Torrance (City of Leeds) to take gold in the Women’s 3m Springboard final.
After what were a close sequence of first-round dives from the eight athletes in contention, Harper managed to gain the lead early on and never looked back – thanks to a 69.00 in her Back 2 ½ Somersaults Pike (205B) in the second round, which provided her highest score of the event.
Torrance applied the pressure on the 22-year-old through the rounds, as she put up an event-best 72.00 on her penultimate dive – a Reverse 2 ½ Somersaults Pike (305B), which put her just six points away from leader Harper with one dive remaining.
It was in the final round where Harper held her nerve, as she produced a solid Inward 2 ½ Somersaults Pike (405B) to give her 63.00 points, and the overall victory on a total of 318.45. Torrance held on to her silver medal, as her Back 2 ½ Somersaults Pike (205B) helped her to an overall score of 304.90.
Third place went to Elna Widerström of Sweden (296.50), who received a bronze medal alongside Dive London’s Scarlett Mew-Jensen (279.35), who was the third highest British finisher.
For the full list of results, access to our livestream footage from across the competition and more, take a look back at our live updates page.
