Tom Daley is going in search of absolute perfection after opening his campaign in diving’s blue-ribband men’s 10m platform in impressive style at Rio 2016.
Daley, the Olympic bronze medallist in the event from London 2012, posted the best score of the preliminary round at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre, 571.85.
That bettered the efforts of defending champion Qiu Bo by over seven points with Daley surpassing 90 on three occasions, 100 once as well as seeing some coveted tens.
Daley’s score would have won gold at London 2012 and silver at last year’s World Championships, where he took bronze and Bo won gold with a score of 587.
The semi-finals await the Brit with 12 of 18 advancing to the final and Daley admits he must improve the most minute elements of his list to better his Olympic bronze.
“I am really happy with the way it went. There is still more to come from it. The judges don’t really give out tens in a prelim so come to away with a few tens thrown into the mix there and a score of 571, I’m really happy with it,” he said.
“It is a good confidence boost and knowing that I can do it but I do that every day in training so it is about making sure I am consistent in the semi-finals, get through to the final and then more of the same.
“I am going to have to sharpen up, the littlest things out there, like my toe point, the littlest things the judges can be like is that a 9 or a 9.5, I’ll give it a 9. You want to make sure they think, no that was definitely a 10. I feel good and ready to get some of those scores.”
Daley is certainly on form having won Olympic 10m synchro bronze already at Rio 2016 with Dan Goodfellow and he admits he is enjoying the Brazilian crowd.
“I felt good, my legs are moving well, I am jumping well, I am comfortable with all my dives and the atmosphere was incredible,” he added. “It wasn’t like a normal prelim where people just clap for the sake of it, people were really enjoying the diving.
“That score would have got gold in London and lots of the international meets this year. It is hard to say [what score will get gold]. With a little bit more atmosphere, in terms of a finals atmosphere, the judges should give away a few more tens.”