Olympic silver medallist Peter Waterfield led the British performances at the USA leg of the FINA Grand Prix with a sixth place finish in the final of the Men’s 10m Platform.
The Southampton diver had looked assured throughout the preliminary and semi-final rounds in Fort Lauderdale but struggled to find his best form in the final to finish with a score of 419.10.
Gold went to Thomas Finchum of the USA with 497.40, Yang Liguang of China took silver with 489.00 and Zhou Luxin, also of China, won bronze with 446.50.
Britain’s Gareth Jones (Southampton Diving Academy) just missed out on a place in the final when he finished his semi-final of the 10m event one place outside of qualification but with an impressive score of 440.00.
Jones was also in action in the Men’s 10m Synchro event where he teamed up with Blake Aldridge (Southampton Diving Academy).
The pair finished in seventh place with a score of 372.15. Gold went to Finchum and David Boudia of the USA with 434.64, silver went to US team mates Nick McCrory and Matt Bricker with 419.52 and Germany’s Patrick Hausding and Christian Picker took the bronze in 388.71.
In the Women’s 10m Synchro event Tonia Couch (Plymouth Diving) and Stacie Powell (Southampton Diving Academy) finished sixth with a score of 283.74. Wang Xin and Chen Ruolin of China took gold with 338.10, silver went to Briony Cole and Melissa Wu of Australia with 316.20 and Canada’s Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion took the bronze with 315.75.
British pair Tandi Gerrard (City of Leeds) and Hayley Sage (City of Sheffield) finished eighth in the final of the Women’s 3m Synchro with a score of 252.93. Gold went to Anastassia Posdniakova and Yulia Pakhalina of Russia with 327.81, silver went to He Zi and Li Ting of China with 312.30 and bronze to Sharleen Stratton and Briony Cole of Australia with 299.04.
Britain will also be in action at the Spanish, Italian and German legs of the FINA Diving Grand Prix series next month.
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The USA leg of the FINA Diving Grand Prix took place in Fort Lauderdale from 10th to 13th May.
The British Diving squad comprised:
Blake Aldridge – Southampton Diving Academy
Peter Waterfield – Southampton Diving Academy
Gareth Jones – Southampton Diving Academy
Tandi Gerrard – City of Leeds
Hayley Sage – City of Sheffield
Stacie Powell – Southampton Diving Academy
Tonia Couch – Plymouth Diving
For further details contact Dave Richards, British Swimming Media Manager, on 01509 632237, 0778 992 6136 or email dave.richards@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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