A Daley boost for Reid
Diving dynamo Grace Reid claims linking up with superstar Tom Daley has put in a spring her step that can help her make a splash in Australia.
The duo have bagged synchro silvers in World Series legs in Japan and China this month but they wi l l now give their partnership a rest for the Commonwealth Games.
But teaming up with the two- time Olympic medallist now has Scots hope Grace believing she’s good enough to hit the heights on the Gold Coast.
The 21-year-old said: “To dive alongside such an icon as Tom just filled me with confidence, to think that he wanted to be paired with me.
“I thought, ‘ Let’s take heart from that.’ Rather than shy away from it, I tried to embrace it.
“I think that helped my confidence come on and started to sink into my individual diving.”
It’s now eight years since Reid made her Games debut at Delhi 2010, aged just 14, as the baby of the Scotland squad.
Reaching the 3m springboard final at the 2016 Olympics in Rio – just weeks after bagging Euro bronze – proved she’s now all grown up.
But the Scot admits it has all gone by in a blur.
She said: “I was having a family dinner recently with my mum and dad and there were pictures around the dining room of baby Grace, aged 14 with an umbrella from the closing ceremony.
“And I’m so proud when I look back and think, ‘Gosh I have come a long way in eight years.’”
Now she’s looking to sink her rivals Down Under.
Reid added: “Five of the top girls in the world will be at the Commonwealths.
“But I’m one of them, so I can take a lot of heart from that fact.”