Tom Daley admits he is already relishing the prospect of competing in his home pool once again after being named in British Diving’s 14-strong squad for the European Aquatics Championships.
The event takes place at the London Aquatics Centre on May 9-15 and Daley will compete in the 10m platform, 10m synchro alongside Dan Goodfellow and 3m mixed events.
He joins fellow world medallists Jack Laugher, Chris Mears and Rebecca Gallantree in the team while the likes of Goodfellow, Lois Toulson, Matty Lee and Freddie Woodward will be making their European Aquatics Championships debut.
Daley won Olympic bronze at the venue, which is also where he trains, back at London 2012 and is counting down the days until his return.
“It is really exciting to have the European Championships in May in London in my home pool,” Daley told British Swimming.
“It is great to think that the London 2012 pool has such a great legacy and we can now hold Diving World Series, European Championships – all these major world events.
“The European Championships is going to be the best preparation leading into the Olympic Games.
“It is actually the last major competition that I will compete in before the Olympics so it is on our radar and one we are going to try and peak for and try to do the best performance we can.
“It feels great to be able to dive in a pool that you train in every day, you feel comfortable, you know the surroundings, you know the pool.
“Even the little things like you know where you are going to get water or you know where you are going to get ice – it does make a massive difference.” There is plenty of experience in the British squad outside of Daley with the likes of Tonia Couch, Rebecca Gallantree and Alicia Blagg also having competed at London 2012.
And National Performance Director Alexei Evangulov believes the squad selected have the ability to find real success in London.
“We have selected a large team for the European Championships which will see a British athlete in action on almost every day of the competition in London,” he said.
“The European Championships are an important event in our calendar as it is the last time the divers will compete internationally ahead of the Olympics in Rio so it is a vital opportunity to test ourselves against our rivals from the continent.
“This is the largest ever British team that has attended a Europeans and we will be going into the seven-day competition in London eager for success.”
Sportsbeat 2016