Laugher beats the blues to take title
Olympic champion in gripe at colour scheme Heatly takes bronze to emulate grandfather
Having started his day with a grumble about the Aquatic Centre colour scheme, claiming that there was too much blue in his eye-line, diver Jack Laugher ended it smitten with the sight of gold.
In a rare instance of an English medal hope justifying the form guide, the 23-year-old was seldom threatened in the one-metre springboard competition, becoming only the country’s second athlete at these Games – after Adam Peaty – to follow Olympic gold with a Commonwealth title.
Laugher prevailed in spite of a plethora of injuries, which had restricted his preparation to just a fortnight, as well as the distracting colour palette of a spectacular open-air seaside arena. Struggling to place his dives during the preliminary round, he said after the final: “It is always hard when all you can see outside is the same shade. From sky to sea, everything is blue.”
For all his visual issues, Laugher glided to victory, leading after the first round and easing through the next five without any serious challenger, as he took gold with a score of 438 points, 25.55 clear of Australia’s James Connor. James Heatly completed a family circle by securing bronze, Scotland’s first Commonwealth diving medal since his late grandfather, Sir Peter Heatly, took the last of three golds in 1958.
“My grandfather was my inspiration and he’s the reason I’m doing this today,” Heatly reflected. “I trusted myself and felt confident. I’m a bit emotional, because it means so much to me. To be the first Scottish diver to do this since him is incredible.”
For Laugher, it was an auspicious start to a campaign that could yield a further two golds: in the threemetre individual competition and the synchronised event at the same height, where he savoured Olympic glory in Rio alongside Chris Mears.
In a gilded few hours for England at the pool, Alicia Blagg and Katherine Torrance earned a silver in the women’s three-metre synchro.