Alicia Blagg and Matthew Dixon impressed on the final day of the British Gas Diving Championships 2014 in Sheffield with gold medals in the 3m Springboard and 10m Platform respectively.
Blagg secured her position on the top spot of the podium in the women’s 3m Springboard after putting in a consistent performance throughout the final.
"It would mean the world to get to another Commonwealth Games as well – that was another thing that really fired me up for today,"
- Alicia Blagg
She qualified in fourth position from the prelims but was in the lead from her first dive in the final and only moved out of the top spot in the third round.
The City of Leeds diver scored a total of 75.00 points for the Reverse 2 ½ Somersaults piked to retake the lead and won her first British individual title with a score of 334.80.
“I’m a bit overwhelmed by it all at the moment,” Blagg said. “I’ve had a wrist injury for the past 10 months and it’s been so up and down.
“Yesterday I had to pull out of competition in the 3m Synchro. I’ve hardly trained because of my exams so leading up to this competition, I’ve never felt so unprepared! So to go and do that, I’m confused but obviously really happy.
“I had the fire in my belly. I wanted to show to people that even though I’ve been injured, I can still do it. And that drove me to what I did today. It would mean the world to get to another Commonwealth Games as well – that was another thing that really fired me up for today.”
Silver went to club mate Hannah Starling with a score of 326.05 and Rebecca Gallantree (City of Leeds) scored 320.85 for bronze.
The men’s 10m final is traditionally one of the toughest competitions of a dive meet and today’s final did not disappoint.
“It’s an amazing feeling," said Dixon, who completed a clean sweep of the Group B titles at last week's British Gas Elite Junior Championships in Plymouth.
"I’m really happy obviously to be national champion – I can’t really believe it. I was hoping to get close to 400 here but that was a big personal best anyway so I’m really happy with that score.
“I wasn’t as nervous as I should have been on some of my dives because I dived well last week so that helped with my confidence. I just tried to think positive and not look at other people’s scores.
“Tom [Daley] is a big inspiration for me. Obviously he won bronze at the Olympics and I’d love to go to the Olympics and go around the world competing like he does.”\
Kyle Kothari (Crystal Palace) won the silver medal with a score of 361.95 and bronze went to Matty Lee(City of Leeds) with a score of 354.70.