Holly Waxman bagged a hat-trick of golds as the country’s top Group C divers battled it out for the British Junior Elite titles in Sheffield.
The event, being held alongside the 2015 ASA National Age Group Diving Championships at Ponds Forge, saw a number of impressive performances, not least from Bradley in her first year of competing at Junior Elite level.
After combining with Crystal Palace diver Louise Bradley for 3m Synchro gold on the opening day, the 12-year old City of Bradford Esprit diver added victories in the 1m and 3m events as well as silver behind Bradley on the individual Platform.
Bradley also underlined her talent to also walk away with four medals, grabbing silver behind her synchro teammate in the 1m and bronze in the 3m.
Crystal Palace’s Amelia Connolly split Waxman and Bradley for silver in the 1m and claimed bronze in the Platform while 11-year old City of Sheffield diver Richelle Houlden held her own against rivals two years her senior to claim bronze in the 3m.
The boys’ events were contested by the strongest fields in recent years with 11 athletes in each of the individual springboard events and nine in the Platform.
Raffa Benitez (City of Sheffield) and Alfie Brown (Star Diving Club) combined to take the first gold in the 3m Synchro before going on to claim the individual 1m Springboard (Benitez) and 3m Springboard (Brown) titles.
Brown then completed a hat-trick of golds with victory in the Platform while Southend’s Tyler Humphreys also impressed with his consistency in Sheffield, winning silver in the 3m and bronze in the Platform, having finished top of the rankings in the prelims of both events.
Humphreys’ medals were the first British Junior honours for the Essex club under their new coaching team of Shan Veasey and Charles Calvert, who took over in April this year.
British Diving Talent and Development Manager Julian Bellan said: “Following a few years of concern with a lack of depth in our boys disciplines, the initiative was taken to actively pursue and recruit boys in our talent id programs.
“The increase in numbers at this year’s Elite C is the result of a very conscious effort over the last three or four seasons by our clubs.
“Among the standout divers across all events were Holly and Louise in the girls and Tyler and Alfie in the boys.”
Based on their performances in Sheffield, Humphreys, Brown, Benitez, Waxman, Bradley and Houlden have all been selected for the England Talent squad heading to this summer’s Bimbingamba International Meet in Rome from 26 – 31 July.
Meanwhile, former European Junior champion Natalie Hill has returned to the British Diving international set-up after being recruited as Pathway Medical Officer for the Great Britain and England Junior squads.