Just 48 hours after contemplating pulling out of the platform competition through injury, Matty Lee returned to the board and dived his way to a gold medal.
The 17-year-old had been struggling with an injury since arriving in Baku and on Friday called relatives at home to tell them he may be forced to miss the competition.
But he made a remarkable recovery to score 588.25 points from five supreme dives to top the podium.
“I wasn’t really expecting that, because my preparation wasn’t great at all,” Lee revealed.
“As soon as I got here, in my first full session, my back started hurting, I don’t know why but that wasn’t great.
“Then training up until this I haven’t done many of my dives at all, but I’ve got a gold medal and I’m really happy,
“On Friday I thought I wasn’t going to be able to compete. I was very upset and was calling home telling them what was going on. I wasn’t in a great place. But the next morning it got better, so I’m quite lucky.”
Team-mate Matthew Dixon narrowly missed out on joining Lee on the podium, finishing fourth with a score of 493.85.
And the 15-year-old was happy with his European Games experience.
“Competing against the big guys is tough, but considering I’m only young I’ve still got a few years to catch up on them,” said Dixon.
“The last 18 months has been a big step up, but I’m really happy with it.”
© Sportsbeat 2015