The final day of action at the British Diving Championships in Edinburgh saw the individual medals claimed in what was one of the most exciting days of the competition.
City of Leeds’ Matty Lee fought back from sixth place to win his first British title in the men’s 10m Platform.
Lee had a shaky start to the final having previously won the prelims but came back with a series of strong dives.
He concluded his final with the Front 4 ½ Somersaults tucked to score 90.65 points which was the highest scoring dive of the final.
He won his gold with a total of 431.40 points.
“I feel like I have waited for this title for a while,” Lee said. “There have been a few times where I have had the opportunity to get the title and I haven’t delivered so it feels so good to have finally got it.
“It wasn’t easy but I am over the moon to have got it finally. The final didn’t start well for me and I could have easily gone the wrong way and got grumpy about it and not been able to bring it back but I have been working on trying to think about the process and not the outcome.
“I have been focusing on each individual dive and not the gold medal or score and that showed today by how I could bring it back.”
Matthew Dixon (Plymouth Diving) won the silver medal with 417.60 while Noah Williams (Dive London) won the bronze after scoring 417.50.
Ross Haslam secured his hat-trick of gold medals at the competition by claiming the title in the 3m Springboard.
The City of Sheffield diver performed a consistent list of dives but saved the best for last as he scored 81.60 for his Front 2 ½ Somersaults Double Twists piked.
Haslam’s final score was 438.75 and he said: “I really can’t believe that I am the 3m Springboard Champion. I didn’t think coming into the competition that I would be able to snatch a gold let alone three.
“You can’t really ask for more than three out of three golds but I think that I’m really happy with how it’s gone. I was nervous at the start of the competition. But training has gone well and I’m happy I’ve been able to replicate what I’ve done in training here.
“I always aim to be consistent so I get into my own space behind the boards and do my drills, keep breathing and stay calm. I don’t want to get too excited or too nervous on the boards.”
Silver went to James Heatly (Edinburgh Diving) with a total of 433.75 and Daniel Goodfellow (City of Leeds) won the bronze with a score of 428.45. Jamaica’s Yona Knight-Wisdom scored 433.75.
Lois Toulson won her third gold of the competition after winning the women’s 10m Platform.
The Olympian overcame a shaky start to end up on the top of the podium and secured 72.00 points for her Back 2 ½ Somersaults 1 ½ Twists piked.
The City of Leeds diver scored a total of 327.90.
“I’m really pleased with my performance today,” Toulson said. “I obviously got the gold but also I’m really happy with the score that I got so overall a good performance.
“I started off the final a bit shaky but towards the end when my degree of difficulty goes up as well I slowly crawled up the list. Over the rest of the year I will definitely be looking to add some bigger more impressive dives to my list.”
The silver went to Ruby Bower (City of Leeds) with a score of 310.65 while the bronze medal went to Robyn Birch (Dive London) with 310.00 points.
City of Leeds’ Katherine Torrance won the British title in the 3m Springboard after putting in a performance that saw her lead through four of the five rounds.
Torrance’s best dive came in the last round when she scored a total of 72.00 points for her Back 2 ½ Somersaults piked.
She completed the final with a score of 328.65.
“I am really happy,” Torrance said. “I came here to make sure I put five dives on my heard and they went pretty well. My last dive went really well. I haven’t scored that high on that dive before.
“I’ve got a lot more experience this year which has definitely helped me because its lots of competitions close together which has helped me learn my routines and see what works for me and to bring that with me to this competition really helped.”
Millie Fowler (City of Sheffield) won the silver with 266.10 points while Scarlett Mew Jensen (Dive London) won the bronze after scoring 261.35.At the end of the competition Edinburgh’s Lord Provost, Frank Ross, said: “Where better to host the British Diving Championships than the Royal Commonwealth Pool? Originally built for the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh and upgraded in 2013, it remains a world-class venue.
“In recent years, the pool has supported home-grown diving talent in the form of Grace Reid and James Heatly. These championships offered a great opportunity for the Edinburgh public to see top divers from up and down the country compete in Scotland’s Capital.”