The Rio 2016 Olympic Champions Chris Mears and Jack Laugher and Olympic bronze medalist Tom Daley returned to competitive for the first time since the Games and came away with gold medals.
Mears and Laugher (City of Leeds) returned to action in the 3m Synchro and performed an excellent list of dives.
The pair used the same list that won them gold in Rio and showed the British crowd their skill to score a total of 415.02.
Their hardest the Front 2 ½ Somersaults Triple Twists piked scored a total of 74.88 but it was their final dive that was the highest scoring.
They secured a total of 82.08 for their Front 4 ½ Somersaults tucked to end the day’s competition.
“It was brilliant to start the season out so positively,” Laugher said. “It was a great score, especially as we’re only in February now so we’ve got a long way to go till the World Championships.
“We’ve got a lot to work on, but it’s a really positive start. Coming off the Olympics being our last competition it was a bit daunting, but I think we had a really positive performance and I’m really happy with how it’s gone.”
“There were some nerves, being announced as Olympic champions definitely shook me up a little bit. But, I very quickly regathered myself and we had a little giggle about it as it brought back some memories. Then we were ready to get in to the competition environment and it was really good to run our list out again.
“This is the first time since Rio we’ve competed so it was a little bit strange, but everything went really well and we got a pretty good score. We know what we need to do going forward working toward the World Series and World Champs at the end of the year.”
Ross and Jack Haslam (City of Sheffield) won silver with a score of 382.14 with James Heatly (Edinburgh Diving) and Freddie Woodward (City of Sheffield) winning bronze with 375.27 points.
European Champions Daley (Dive London) and Grace Reid (Edinburgh Diving) returned to action for the first time since the Rio Olympic Games to claim gold in the Mixed 3m Synchro.
The pair showed consistent diving in the required rounds with a total of 96.00 points as the competition entered the third round.
In the penultimate round the pair scored 62.31 points for their Front 3 ½ Somersaults piked and ended the competition with gold and a score of 260.91.
“It was really fun out there – diving with Grace it’s always a little bit different. And also because I’m diving springboard when usually I dive on 10m,” Daley said.
“It was the first competition back after the Olympics, it’s nice to be home here in Plymouth and also come away with a gold.
“Diving in Plymouth is so much fun, I get to see my mum and my grandparents in the crowd so it makes it extra special.”
Silver went to Kayleigh Sinclair and Aiden Heslop (Plymouth Diving) with 243.30 points and Emily Bearpark and Joe Stocking won bronze with 212.37 points.
Laugher won his first gold of the day in the 1m Springboard as he executed the toughest list of any of the divers in the final.
His highest scoring dive came in the third round when he scored 76.50 for his Inward 2 ½ Somersaults piked.
His final score was 395.40 and he commented: “It was very up and down. I had some good dives and some not so good dives.
“It is my first competition after the Olympics, I’ve not been competing for five months. It was pretty difficult to shake the cobwebs off and I was also doing a new and improved list with more degree of difficulty.”
Silver went to City of Sheffield’s Ross Haslam with 382.60 points and bronze was won by Freddie Woodward (City of Sheffield) with 369.30 points.
The Mixed 10m Synchro saw a surprise victory for Lois Toulson and Matty Lee (City of Leeds) ahead of Daley and Tonia Couch (Plymouth Diving).
Toulson and Lee were behind after the first round but came back and scored 78.72 for both of their last dives to put them further ahead.
“It was really really good,” Lee said. “That was our first time doing it. We haven’t had much training together even though we both live in Leeds, we’ve literally only done two sessions together. We dived pretty well so we’re really really happy.”
Toulson added: “We talk about anything! I get really nervous so we just spoke about what we’re going to eat tonight to take my mind off of it and it paid off.”
The finished with the Back 2 ½ Somersaults 1 ½ Twists piked and won the gold with a total of 335.04.
Couch and Daley finished with 304.26 points.
City of Leeds’ Katherine Torrance won the second gold medal up for grabs as she repeated her performance at the World Junior Championships.
Torrance sat in second place until the fourth round and she took the lead with her Inward 1 ½ Somersaults piked which scored 52.80.
She secured her highest score in the final round with 59.80 for her Front 2 ½ Somersaults piked to win with an overall score of 261.90.
On winning her first National title she said: “I’m ecstatic. This is my first individual British title so I’m really happy to get it on 1m.
“To be junior World Champion, I had a bit of pressure but I’m glad I got it in the end.
“I don’t really have a favourite dive as I’m pretty nervous on all of them but front 2 ½ somersault is probably my favourite and I finish on it and a lot of the time it goes quite well. It’s a good banker dive.
“Training has been going well, I’m not one to feel too confident before a competition. But I definitely thought of it as an opportunity and to go for it.”
Reid took the silver medal with a score of 249.05 and Millie Fowler (City of Sheffield) won the bronze with a score of 245.50.
Olympians Couch and Toulson won the gold medal in the 10m Synchro after scoring a total of 294.24.
The pair scored a huge 73.92 for their Back 2 ½ Somersaults 1 ½ Twists piked in the penultimate round.
Silver went to Ruby Bower and Pheobe Banks (City of Leeds) with a score of 264.60.
News courtesy of British Swimming.
