BEDGGOOD HAS SIGHTS ON GAMES CHANCES
GOLD Coast diver Domonic Bedggood will turn attention to the Commonwealth Games after missing the final in his pet 10m platform event at the world championships.
Bedggood, a gold medallist in the 10m synchronised event at the Glasgow Games with Matthew Mitcham in 2014, narrowly missed the individual final in Budapest on Saturday.
Bedggood finished 13th after the semis, with the top 12 progressing to the decider.
Bedggood, 22, was seventh after his first dive, an armstand back double somersault with two-and-a-half twists.
But he fell back to 14th after his second effort – an inward three-and-a-half somersault – scored just 59.2 points overall and pushed him to 15th place.
While he fought back to 12th after his fourth effort, he was unable to hold on and fell agonisingly short of the finals.
But with only a pair of Brits in eventual gold medallist Tom Daley and Matthew Lee in front of him, Bedggood is a strong chance of a medal in his home Games next April.
The former gymnast, who turned to diving after breaking his back in a gymnastics accident in 2011, has continued his rise and shapes as the country’s leading platform diver leading to Tokyo’s Olympics.
But performing at his home Games next April will be high on Bedggood’s agenda.
Already, he has formed a great combination with veteran Melissa Wu, although the pair could not replicate their medal-winning effort at the Kazan world championships two years ago, finishing seventh in the mixed synchro platform event in Budapest.
And in a great boost for Australian diving, Declan Stacey, who only made the transition from gymnastics to diving a year ago, finished eighth in the men’s synchro platform final with Bedggood and also made the individual semifinal, finishing 18th overall.