Harper and Mew Jensen continue world medal streak

Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen made history in the Women’s 3m Synchro event when they dived to a brilliant bronze at last summer's Olympic Games in Paris – now here in Singapore they were targeting a podium finish to back up previous silverware from the past two editions of the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka and Doha.

After laying down two solid required dives in the opening rounds, the British duo continued with poise in round three to land a superb Forward 2 1/2 Somersaults 1 Twist (5152B) for 68.40 points to sit them in the silver medal spot behind China on the leaderboard.

With another 65-plus dive in the penultimate round, their highest-scoring dive of the competition came with their fifth and final effort, when 69.75 points for their Front 3 ½ Somersault Pike (107B) helped maintain their standing – taking their total to 298.35 and to the second step of the world championships podium.

“We are delighted. I think today we definitely set the expectation that we wanted to come in and hit our best performance of the year. We've done that, and we've come away with silver medal, so we are very pleased,” said Harper.

On dealing with the expectations they’d set out for themselves, Mew Jensen commented:

“I was very nervous. So for me, I do a lot of breathing, a lot of breathing techniques, just to really slow my heart rate down. But I think we have a lot of trust in each other, and we sort of sit next to each other and feel each other's presence as well [throughout competition] which is really comforting for me.

“It was quite a speedy round, because only eight pairs [made the final] but that was good as I think there was less thinking time for me.”

With Harper adding on their synchro bond:

“I genuinely think that it's just having absolute trust in each other. We have got like a special relationship that I think really helps us in the events.

“We know each other so well, and I think we can both say for each other that we even know if one of us is like a tiny bit off - I think we've learnt through performances, through the years what to do to help each other out.”

Robbie Lee and Kyle Kothari were making their maiden outing a as a pairing on the world stage, having debuted the new partnership the European Championships in May.

A positive preliminaries showing qualified the pair well placed into the final, and there scoring pattern followed a similar pattern in the medal contest.

Sitting bottom of the leaderboard at the end of round four was no fault of their consistency, and having back-ended the difficulty of their list the British pair began to make moves on the rankings with their closing two dives.

Finishing strongly with a high-scoring Forward 4½ Somersaults Tuck (109C) took their total to 399.27 points, placing Kothari and Lee a highly respectable fourth overall on the global stage.

“I feel pretty good,” said Kothari

“I mean we stepped it up through the rounds, and honestly we've had so many problems with our list this year that we literally only changed that set of dives last week. So coming out here and putting two really solid performances together, we're both happy in how we did”

On forming their synchro partnership, Lee added:

“We get along really well as friends, so it's been nice competing with each other. I haven’t normally done synchro, so it's been a fun experience.

“I'm super happy with how we did. Obviously, given the circumstances - I didn't train for the first half of the season as I dislocated my shoulder - so fourth in the world, I can't be upset with that.”

Stream live free-to-air coverage of the World Aquatics Championships 2025 taking place in Singapore at www.aquaticsgb.com/live.