New faces shone brightest on Friday as debutants won both gold medals on offer at the British Diving Championships, in Edinburgh.
James Heatly and Lucas Thomson won gold in the men’s 10m synchro, while in the women’s 3m synchro it was Mew Jensen and Yasmin Harper who struck gold at the first attempt.
For Heatly and Thomson a tally of 362.34 was enough to secure top spot on the podium, a total achieved with a best scoring dive of 78.72 – awarded for their final back 2.5 somersaults, 1.5 twists piked.
And for Heatly, the fact he had never competed with his Edinburgh Diving colleague before today, did not seem to phase him.
“That was amazing,” he told British Swimming. “That was our first ever competition together. To make it to the podium and to the top of it is just more than we expected.”
While Thomson overcame his reservations about Heatly’s springboard background to leap to gold.
“We’ve just started working it this year,” said Thomson. “It worked really well for our first time. He’s a good synchro partner but he’s a bit tentative on the platform because he’s a springboard diver, but he’s a good partner to have.”
Noah Williams, of Dive London, partnered with Plymouth Diving’s Matthew Dixon to take the silver medal with a score of 352.62.
In the women’s competition Dive London’s Jensen and City of Sheffield’s Harper won with a total of 244.02 following a best score of 62.10 for their front 2.5 somersaults with one piked twist.
The silver medal went to namesakes and City of Sheffield divers Millie Fowler and Millie Haffety, for their 210.39 tally, but the day belonged to Jensen and Harper.
“It was really surprising,” said Jensen. “We’re a new pair and it’s a bit overwhelming.”
With Harper adding: “It’s been a good new experience with us because training at different centres we’ve done a few sessions together and it’s gone well.”
Following the preliminary round of the women’s 3m springboard competition it’s City of Leeds’ Katherine Torrance that leads the way, while clubmate Matty Lee heads the 10m platform leaderboard at the same stage.
While the action on day one in Edinburgh saw City of Sheffield’s Millie Fowler and Ross Haslam take home gold in the mixed 3m synchro.
Plymouth Diving’s Kayleigh Sinclair and Aidan Heslop won silver with City of Leeds’ Lee and Lois Toulson taking mixed 10m synchro gold with a score of 315.78.
Sportsbeat 2017