Medal joy for Daley with gold and silver claimed
Plymouth diver wins another gold in the synchronised and silver in the individual
PLYMOUTH’S Tom Daley has once again starred in a major diving competition after winning the first synchronised 10m European title of his career.
Along with diving partner Matty Lee, the pair achieved Gold in the European Aquatics Championship with an incredible, jaw-dropping performance.
It comes two weeks after the British pair finished on top of the standings at the World Cup event in Japan in the men’s 10m synchronised event previous to the brilliant performance in Budapest.
Their score of 477.57 points for their six dives was also their personal best, with their final three dives all scoring in excess of 90.
The highest score the pair achieved was 97.20, being scored after a stunning 3.5 back somersault in round four of the event.
Daley told britishswimming.org: “I’m absolutely delighted and that’s the first time I’ve won a synchro gold medal at the European Championships.
“I think we were five points higher than our previous personal best at the London World Series, so I’m just really happy.
“Our last dive wasn’t the best we could have done it, so there’s still room for improvement, and we’ve got eight or nine weeks until we compete at the Olympics.”
He also told BBC Sport that it was a good sign ahead of the Olympics, due to take place in Tokyo this summer. He said: “That was a score which would have actually won the Chinese nationals this week, which is a good sign ahead of the Olympics and I feel we can still make improvements before Tokyo.”
It’s the first title for British Divers at the 2021 European events and their fifth medal, following Jack Laugher getting silver in the 1m springboard along with medals for Luis Toulson and Eden Cheng (synchronised 10m), Noah Williams and
Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix (mixed synchronised 10m) and SpendoliniSirieix also winning bronze in the 10m platform individual event.
Daley then competed in the individual 10m platform event yesterday, where his hopes of a second gold were ended after a poor second dive, which left him in fifth place.
Daley had qualified for last night’s final in first place with fellow GB diver Noah Williams also through in sixth place.
An excellent third and fourth dive saw him climb into the medal positions, but Russia’s Aleksandr Bondar was every bit as good to retain his lead in first place.
Daley climbed above Viktor Minibaev and into second with another superb dive. He needed a perfect ten to take gold with his final, but just missed out with Bondar taking gold, Daley silver and Minibaev the bronze.