NTHE CAUSE UPSET
DIVING
BY NEIL MOXLEY
DAN GOODFELLOW upset the form book as he capitalised on a brainfreeze from hot favourite Jack Laugher to land gold.
The Olympic bronze medallist completed an English shut-out on the medal podium in the 3m springboard as his final dive left Jordan Houlden claiming silver with Games flag-bearer Laugher in third.
Goodfellow was trailing by just 0.6 points with one round to go but Houlden fluffed his lines, allowing his 25-year-old rival to finish to top of the pile.
But the narrative of the event centred on
Laugher, whose day started badly after he forgot what he was doing during the first dive in the qualifiers.
He inexplicably produced a somersault – instead of involving a twist – and was marked down at zero.
Incredibly, after a reset he was on course to turn into a hero – but again crumbled under pressure and Goodfellow pounced.
Ahead of the final, Laugher said: “I got a bit of a knee tremble on the board. I was a bit nervous and doubted myself too much.
“When you do a twist dive you’ve got to release your legs into it. I’d passed the point of being able to do that and just did a different dive.
“Once you’ve failed, emotion plays into it a lot and you start wanting it a bit too much.
“When emotion is tied to it, it makes my diving very up and down. So I’m going to go reset, have a sleep and come back later and give it my best.”
After a solid start, he did exactly that and, after a superb third dive, was leading the pack.
However, he overrotated and was again marked down badly, leaving the door open for Goodfellow and Houlden, who then engaged in their own personal battle for the main prize.
It was the latter who held a slender lead going into the sixth dive of the evening.
This time it was Houlden who felt the pressure as Goodfellow rounded off the competition by holding his nerve.
Laugher finished in third, pushing James Heatly out of the medals, the Scot finishing fourth for the third time at these Games.