Daley dances off with worlds gold, silver

BRITAIN’S Tom Daley held off Olympic champion Chen Aisen of China to add 10m platform gold to the silver he had won just hours earlier on Saturday at the world rld aquatic championships.

After taking silver with partner Grace Reid in the afternoon’s 3m synchro nchro springboard final for Britain,tain, Daley went one better in the 10m platform to win a third hird worlds gold in his career.

“The 10m platf o r m i s my main event, so I made sure Grace and I were r e l a x e d i n t h e earli er f i nal [the 3m synchro],” explained Daley after his gold win. “We focused on having fun. We were dancing in the showers, singing along to the music in the stadi stadium, which helped us both dive well.w “T he volu ntee nteers beh i nd t he s c e ne s m must h a v e thought I was c cra z y, danci ng a nd si ng i ng to a ny music that cam came on.”

Final pre pressure dive

Daley l led from the start an and kept his nerve i in the final roun round, producing a brilliant d dive, a back three and a half somersault pike, under pressure to secure the gold.

His score matched Chen’s tally of a near perfect 106.20pts after the Chinese had thrown down the gauntlet with a fantastic dive immediately before Daley.

“I saw the Chinese were celebrating after Chen’s dive and I decided to do something about that,” Daley said. “It brought out the competitor in me, so I just stepped up and gave it my best.”

The Brit sealed a brilliant display with a winning tally of 590.95pts from Chen, who took silver with 585.25pts, while China’s Yang Jian won bronze with 565.15pts.

Chen’s final dive produced a score of 10, 10, 9.5 out of 10, only to see Daley match that straight after.

It is the second time the 23-year-old Daley has won the 10m platform world title having also struck gold at the 2009 championships in Rome as a 15-yearold. Daley also won gold in the team event at the 2015 world championships in Kazan.

Having announced himself on the world stage by competing as a 13-yearold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Daley has built up a cult following.

Every dive at Budapest’s Duna Arena was greeted with a roar in each round from the crowd, which was repeated when his score was flashed up confirming his first place.

With the diving section of the world aquatic championships now complete, Chinese divers won eight of the 13 events in Budapest.