Solid and steady was how Tom Daley described the performance of him and partner Grace Reid as they secured a second Diving World Series bronze medal in as many weeks in Beijing.
Having claimed bronze in the mixed 3m synchro in Sagamihara last week, they did likewise in China by nailing a front 3 ½ somersault pike with their final dive.
The Brits were either second or joint-second after each one of their first three dives before dropping to fourth after the penultimate round.
But they finished superbly for a total of 294.39, which was enough to edge out Domonic Bedggood and Anabelle Smith of Australia and Germany’s Tina Punzel and Lou Massenberg for the final spot on the podium.
China’s Yang Hao and Chang Yani waltzed to gold with Francois Imbeau-Dulac and Jennifer Abel of Canada taking silver but double Olympic bronze medallist Daley was content with the final outcome.
“I’m really happy with the performance by me and Grace,” he explained. “We changed our dive list compared with what we did in Japan, as in Japan we used a reverse 2 ½ somersault pike instead of a back 2 ½ somersault pike, so we made a little change and we were really happy with it.
“It was a solid, steady performance – there was nothing crazily good and there was nothing that was crazily bad – it was just solid and consistent diving
“That is exactly what you need at a World Series event, so we’re looking forward to the next one now. Onwards to the individual 10m platform for me.”
Daley and Reid weren’t the only British divers to leave with a bronze medal around their neck for the second week running as Jack Laugher replicated his performance in the 3m springboard.
The Olympic 3m synchro champion improved his score by ten points from last week in Japan and was in the hunt for gold after four superb dives but slipped slightly with his final effort as Chinese pair Cao Yuan and Xie Siyi earned gold and silver respectively.
Laugher’s total of 457.55 was ultimately enough to edge out Mexico’s Rommel Pacheco Marrufo by 0.45 points for a podium spot.
Ross Haslam came sixth in that final – in just his second World Series event – while Reid and Kat Torrance also went in the women’s 3m springboard but couldn’t advance beyond the semi-finals.
Sportsbeat 2019