Olympic silver medallist Pete Waterfield (Southampton Diving) came back from illness to qualify for the final of the men's 10m platform and finished 10th.
The Southampton diver, who has been fighting an ear infection through the week, gave a promising performance in the semi final with a score of 462.90.
In the final Waterfield was beginning to find his form with excellent scores in his first three dives and found himself once again in the top six. But with a missed dive in the fifth round he slipped down to 10th place, finishing with a total score of 419.70.
Waterfield has also suffered the disappointment of his platform synchro partner Leon Taylor (City of Sheffield) pulling out of the championships with an unfortunate back injury. But he is looking forward to the World Cup in Beijing next year, where he is hopeful of a stronger performance.
“I am obviously disappointed with the final,” said Waterfield. “But our preparation has not been great both in the UK and over here. I have also been suffering from a thumb injury all year and so I was really happy to take part in the event.
“It would have been great to have won a medal, but my aim was to qualify Britain for the Olympics and I succeeded in doing that. My training is now going well and I am beginning to find my form, I am looking forward to the rest of my year and obviously I have hopes of strong performances in the run up to the Olympics.”
“It has been a real disappointment for both me and Leon missing the 10m platform synchro event, it is my favourite event. But injuries never come at a good time and we have both had some nasty ones in the past year. But with the World Cup coming up in 2008 we will both be looking to qualify for the Olympics and have some good training sessions together.”
Elsewhere, Tandi Gerrard (City of Leeds) battled hard in the women’s 3m springboard semi final, but finished a disappointing 16th with a score of 272.00, and did not make the final. Gerrard and her synchro partner Hayley Sage (City of Sheffield) will be taking part in the 3m springboard synchro tomorrow.
-ENDS-
The 12th FINA World Championships will take place from 17th March until 1st April 2007.
The British Diving squad comprises:
Tonia Couch (Plymouth)
Tandi Gerrard (City of Leeds)
Jodie McGroarty (City of Sheffield)
Stacie Powell (Southampton Diving)
Hayley Sage (City of Sheffield)
Blake Aldridge (Southampton Diving)
Ben Swain (City of Sheffield)
Gareth Jones (Southampton)
Nicholas Robinson-Baker (City of Sheffield)
Leon Taylor (City of Sheffield)
Peter Waterfield (Southampton Diving)
Diving events take place from 19th to 26th March.
Swimming takes place from 25th March to 1st April.
Open Water takes place from 18th to 25th March.
Synchro takes place from 17th to 24th March
For further details contact Gemma Field, ASA Media Assistant, on 01509 632262, 07917 726431 or email gemma.field@swimming.org
British Swimming is the National Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo and Open Water in Great Britain. It is responsible internationally for the high performance representation of the sport. The members of British Swimming are the three Home Countries national governing bodies of England (Amateur Swimming Association), Scotland (Scottish Amateur Swimming Association) and Wales. (Welsh Amateur Swimming Association) British Swimming seeks to enable its athletes to achieve gold medal success at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games.
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