Olympic medallist Tom Daley won gold before a home crowd in the 10m Platform at the LEN European Aquatics Championships in London to help the Great Britain team to their best ever performance.
And there was further success for Britain when Women’s 3m Synchro pair Rebecca Gallantree and Alicia Blagg won a hard-fought silver to close the British haul for the week at 11 medals.
Daley lined up against the 2014 European Champion Victor Minibaev (RUS) to claim the win with a final total of 570.50 in front of a packed home crowd.
He took the top spot after his third round dive, an Armstand Back 3 Somersaults Piked and maintained it until the end to seal the victory. The last dive of the final from Daley, a Back 3 ½ Somersaults Piked scored 99.00 to confirm the title.
Daley said: “Coming into this competition I’ve been really excited. I’ve been training well and I just wanted to dive at my best.
“It was lovely to come in and get the gold medal but it wasn’t really about that for me, it was about being in the right place at the right time.
“I still can’t quite believe I won, Viktor Minibaev has been a tough competitor of mine all year at the World Series and we always have that rivalry but I’m glad I came out on top today.
“I’m looking forward to Rio now, it’s an outdoor pool and anything could happen. I’m excited.”
Daley was joined on the podium by Russia’s Viktor Minibaev in silver (524.60) and Nikita Shleikher (480.90) in bronze.
Matty Lee closed a successful Championships for him in London with a fifth place finish in the Men’s platform event having already won bronze twice this week in London.
The second final of the evening saw Gallantree and Blagg win silver in the Women’s 3m Synchro. The pair started well to secure almost 100 points for their required dives and entered the optional rounds with confidence.
The Commonwealth Champions saved their best for last as they scored 78.12 for their Front 3 ½ Somersaults piked for a final score of 319.32 to take their first medal of the competition.
Gallantree said: “That more than makes up for last night. It was obviously a little bit of a disappointment to finish fourth just outside the medals in the 3m individual but to come back here tonight with Alicia and put in that performance is more than I could have hoped for.”
Blagg said: “It’s been really hard to keep going this week. Seeing everyone doing well has been amazing but it put a lot of pressure on us going into the last event. We felt we had to live up to the expectations but we did and I’m so happy.”
The team finished the competition with another two additions to their trophy cabinet. They were awarded the Champions Trophy after finishing top of the points table and medal table, and Daley was awarded LEN Best Male Diver of the Year for 2015.
Tickets for the LEN European Aquatics Championships are still available both on the door and via http://www.theticketfactory.com/euroaquatics/online - come and support the British team in London.