Tom Daley praised the home support as he and Matty Lee claimed 10m synchro gold and a first title as a pairing at the London leg of the Diving World Series.
Competing at the London Aquatics Centre, Daley and Lee also set a British record in only their sixth event as a pair as they step up their quest for the podium at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The duo sat in second place at the halfway stage of the competition but produced a flawless final dive to seal the win – their score of 477.90 leaving China to take second on 459.00 and Russia third on 448.50.
After topping the podium, 24-year-old Daley commented: “We knew that we were capable of doing that as we’ve been doing it in training, but this is the first time everything has come together in one diving list.
“There’s still more to get out of the list, but we’re pretty happy with that!
“The home crowd support was just fantastic and being able to compete in front of family and friends and beat the Chinese gives you a lot of confidence, especially heading into the World Championships.”
Daley and Lee have been put together for a run at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and got off to a flying start with one silver and one bronze from four World Series events, before this stunning gold.
Daley, a two-time Olympian, is the bigger name but Lee has earned silver in the mixed 10m synchro at both the most recent World and European Championships alongside Lois Toulson – the new pairing take new confidence into the World Championships in two months.
Lee, 21, commented: “I’ve never interacted with the crowd like that before, turning around with that much confidence and thinking, we’ve smashed it and punching my fist in the air. I’m speechless.
“In the junior worlds I established myself as quite a successful athlete but this is my first senior international gold medal - I’m over the moon. We’ve still got a few more competitions to go here, but it’s a great start.”
In the women’s event, European champions Eden Cheng and Toulson bagged bronze behind their Chinese and South Korean opponents.
The pair rounded off their debut campaign on the World Series circuit with another consistent series, finishing on a score of 284.76 points - meaning they stepped onto the podium to receive their first ever world level medals.
The British duo’s best dive came in the final round as they scored an impressive 71.04 with their back 2½ somersaults 1½ twist pike.
Olympic champion Jack Laugher and his new partner Dan Goodfellow were also in action in the men’s 3m Synchro but couldn’t add a further medal as they finished fifth, just three points off the podium.
Meanwhile, in the women’s 3m synchro Kat Torrance and Grace Reid narrowly missed out on the podium as they finished fourth, Australia’s Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith taking gold.
Sportsbeat 2019