A pair of Olympians secured back-to-back British titles as Tonia Couch and Lois Toulson claimed women’s 10m synchro gold at the British Diving Championships in Edinburgh on Saturday.
Couch and Toulson – who came fifth in the 10m synchro at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games – retained their title with an impressive display, completing the competition with a score of 307.26.
That was enough to push Tanya Watson and Lucy Hawkins into the silver medal position with their total of 256.74.
And Couch was as content with the performance as she was with the outcome on the penultimate day of competition in Scotland.
“We dived pretty well,” Couch told British Swimming. “We weren’t really focusing on where we finished but how we performed.
“I think we did a good job so we’re really pleased. I was a little bit nervous as I feel like I’ve not been diving well but it was nice to be next to Lois and I feel like I’m better when I’m next to her.”
Toulson completed an impressive day by leading the charge following the prelims of the women’s 10m ahead of Sunday’s final, with Dan Goodfellow doing likewise in the men’s 3m.
Meanwhile, brotherly love proved unbeatable in the men’s 3m synchro as Jack and Ross Haslam took gold with an impressive score of 393.30.
The siblings’ efforts were enough to pip Freddie Woodward and James Heatly to victory, as the latter duo had to settle for second after posting a score of 381.63.
And both brothers were understandably ecstatic after becoming British champions.
“That was one of our best performances in terms of score,” explained Jack. “To score over 70 points on all of our optional dives is great so we’re really happy with that.
“It was pretty amazing competing with my brother.”
And Ross added: “I was really nervous going into that.
“It was a really intense competition. Because we are synchro partners and brothers and rivals it’s a tough one and you know there’s very little room for error.”
Sportsbeat 2017