Courtesy: British Swimming
Noah Williams and Kyle Kothari played out a thrilling Men’s 10m Platform duel as Grace Reid claimed her second title of the meet in the Women’s 3m Springboard.
A closely-contested battle between Dive London Aquatics duo Noah Williams and Kyle Kothari brought the curtain down on the British National Diving Cup with both men sharing the lead at various points throughout the Men’s 10m Platform final.
Trading the top spot across the first four rounds, William’s began to hit top gear with his second dive – an Inward 3 1/2 Somersaults Tuck (407C), the first in a string of five 80-plus point dives, while Kothari bounced backed into the lead with a near perfect execution of the very same dive in the third round.
The higher degree of difficulty list of Tokyo 2020 Olympian Williams played to his advantage in the reclaiming the gold medal position in the fourth round, however heading into the last round just 2.05 points separated the pair.
With everything to play for, Kothari applied the pressure with his Back 2 ½ Somersaults 2 ½ Twists Pike (5255B) scoring 91.80 and taking him through the 500 point barrier for the first ever time in competition.
Williams responded by throwing down the dive of the day – his Forward 4 ½ Somersaults Tuck (109C) recording a huge 105.45 points to take his total to 520.45 and win the gold.
Robbie Lee completed an all-Dive London Aquatics male senior podium, with his 88.80 point final dive lifting him up into bronze on a final score of 454.60.
Speaking on his gold, Williams was happy with the national title a really positive start to the season:
“I feel pretty good, it’s quite early in the season so these nationals have come a bit earlier because of the scheduling of worlds so I didn’t feel as prepared as I have done in recent years but still a very good performance and something we can hopefully build on at internationals.
“Sometimes I have struggled at nationals compared to internationals but because Kyle was diving so well it had that big competition feel and we definitely push each other to be better so I enjoyed it a lot.
“I’ve got a break now for a little bit and then I’ll take each competition as it comes because it’s a busy year and I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself but hopefully good things to come.”
Adding thoughts on what has made his final round dive such a consistent hallmark of his success, Williams said:
“I have no idea! I kind of just copy Matty [Lee] – he I think is the best in the world at it and has had straight ten’s on it before. I train with such good people like Kyle, Matty and Tom so whenever I struggle with something I just ask them for help and they help me improve.”
Dive London’s Grace Reid claimed her second individual title of the meet as she was crowned champion in the Women’s 3m Springboard on the closing day of action at the British National Diving Cup.
Having led all the way through the morning prelims, Reid recovered from a slower start to her finals list with a super second round Forward 3 ½ Somersaults Pike (107B) scoring 72.85 and propelling her to the top of the scoreboard.
Having found her rhythm, Friday’s 1m Springboard gold medallist quickly backed up her position as the front runner with a 70+ point third round Reverse 2 1/2 Somersaults Pike (305B) before closing out her performance with two further composed efforts to post a title winning tally of 339.85.
“Yeah delighted, you know I think it was a warm up on Friday but that performance was testament to what I knew was coming. I’m really pleased with today, super steady and I don’t really think I missed a trick so I want to keep those preparations and those routines going ahead.” said Reid.
“I have to wait to see what the selection is [for Doha] but I’ve done everything I possibly can today so I’m going to enjoy a little bit of time off, recover and then hopefully gear the next bit of prep towards the world champs.”
“It’s a small stepping stone here and I’m so pleased with how this has gone and it gives me a massive confidence boost. I’m loving what I’m doing and it’s really important I carry that forward into my next competitions.”
Fellow Dive London athlete, Scarlett Mew Jensen, took silver with 308.20 point after battling back from misplaced dive in the second round, while Sheffield Diving’s Yasmin Harper rallied on her final dive to pick up the British bronze on 288.90 – just a point behind guest diver Lauren Hallaselkä (Finland) who finished in third overall.
To re-watch any of the Scottish National Diving Championships inc. The British Diving Cup 2023 action head to the Scottish Swimming YouTube channel, with extended results detail on DiveRecorder.
