Jack Laugher and Chris Mears produced a series of superlative dives to win gold in the three metre springboard final at the European Aquatics Championships in London.
Their win topped off a fantastic night for British divers as Tonia Couch and Georgia Ward earlier won silver and bronze, respectively, in the 10m platform final.
Laugher and Mears scored 456.81 from their six dives, taking the lead in the third round and not letting it go despite pressure from second placed pair, Russia’s Olympic and world silver medallists Ilia Zakharov and Evgenii Kuznetsov, who eventually finished 11.58 points behind the Brits.
Ukrainian duo Illya Kvasha and Oleksandr Gorshkovozov won bronze, a further 5.37 points behind the Russians.
The Brits’ score was a personal best for the pair and Laugher, who also won silver in the individual three metre springboard competition, was delighted with the result.
“This is massive for us and 11-point PB,” added Laugher, who also won silver in the individual 3m Springboard.
“It’s the first time we’ve pulled off our triple out, the fifth dive where we scored over 94, which was sensational.
“This has been a long time coming because our synchro has been on form. It took a little while to get going this year but we’re definitely there now.
“Hopefully that score and that performance sends a message out to the rest of the world that we are on form ahead of Rio.”
Mears said the pair had little preparation for the competition but that the work they had done, had paid off.
He said: “We knew off the back of the World Series what we needed to work on and I think we have done that really well.”
In the women’s platform competition Ukrainian Iuliia Prokopchuk won with a score of 385.90, more than 30 points ahead of Couch.
The Brit had qualified in first place for the final but was still pleased with her silver medal and was delighted to share the podium with teammate Ward.
“Europeans aren’t normally on my side to be honest so I had to focus on myself and not concentrate on what anyone else was doing,” said Couch.
“I scored pretty high today – it’s not my best but I’m still really pleased.
“My first dive was awful in fact so I had to sit down, listen to some music and tell myself off really.
“But then I did an arm-stand for straight nines which I’ve never done before so I was really pleased and that put me back in the running to fight for that medal.”
Londoner Ward had a breakthrough year in 2015 but could still not believe she had won a European medal.
She said: “Me and Matty [Lee] won silver here last year at the World Series which was crazy but gave me a lot of confidence for this season.
“And now this year has been incredible, learning my new dive and competing it here so I’m happy.” Get discounted sports tickets, enter competitions, see exclusive content and much more at Team GB Club
Sportsbeat 2016