Laugher’s fine 2018 continues

Jack Laugher continued his 2018 gold rush with victory in the men’s 3m springboard competition at the European Championships in Edinburgh.

Laugher’s win was his second of the championships with the prospect of a third with partner Chris Mears to come today – a feat which would match the trio of titles he secured at the Commonwealth Games in April.

Laugher came from behind at the halfway stage to edge out 2012 Olympic champion Ilya Zakharov of Russia, with fellow Briton Dan Goodfellow in fourth behind Russia’s Evgenii Kuznetsov.

Laugher, who also won the men’s 1m springboard on Tuesday, said: “There are still a lot of things to improve on.

“It wasn’t a perfect performance by any means, but I’m happy with the outcome and to beat the Russians.”

Zakharov led after three of the six dives but Laugher, who won silver in the same event in Rio, hit back with a stunning dive in the fourth round to wrest control.

Zakharov was not finished and threatened Laugher’s lead with his final dive, but the Ripon star held on to win in 525.95 ahead of Zakharov on 519.05.

Earlier, Noah Williams and Matt Dixon won silver in the men’s 10m synchro behind Russia’s Aleksandr Bondar and Viktor Minibaev.