Olympic champion Jack Laugher doubled his medal tally on day two of action at the opening leg of the 2019 FINA Diving World Series, securing bronze in the Men’s 3m Springboard in Japan.
Having won 3m Synchro bronze alongside his new partner Dan Goodfellow yesterday, Laugher continued where he left off, easily advancing through his semi-final to line up as one of the favourites in the final. Having shown good form so far in Sagamihara, Laugher showed his quality in the first three rounds, to sit in the bronze medal position at the halfway mark.
Chasing an extremely strong Chinese pair of Siyi Xie and Yuan Cao, Laugher couldn’t quite find his very best form with his high degree of difficulty final three dives, meaning it would be a second bronze of the weekend inside the Sagamihara Green Pool.
Reflecting on his performances in the Japanese capital, Laugher said:
“I was really happy with the synchro with Dan – to come out at our first international and get a medal was really good. Individually today, the first three were great but the last three not so much, but it’s a learning curve. Nationals [last month] weren’t so good, so I wasn’t the normal confident Jack and I was a little bit more nervous.
“I’ve got Beijing next week and hopefully I’ll use what I’ve learnt today and move forward and do better. The goal will be to try and improve on those last three dives.”
Laugher ended the competition with a tally of 469.25 to add yet more silverware to his collection. In the morning session Ross Haslam made his World Series debut and was seventh in semi-final A with a score of 371.05.
Another Leeds diver was in action earlier in the day, Lois Toulson taking to the tower for the Women’s 10m Platform. Drawn in a tough semi-final A, Toulson acquitted herself well, a 72.00 Inward 3 ½ Somersault Tuck (407C) in round four the pick of her bunch. A total of 323.20 left her in fourth place, just outside a top three spot required to advance to the final.
The final event of day two was the Mixed 10m Synchro, with Toulson back in action alongside Matty Lee. The pair were in great spirits and produced a good series, the highlight a 68.16 score in the penultimate round, with the exact same dive as Toulson’s best in the individual event. A final tally of 294.06 secured them sixth place, a solid end to Saturday’s action.
Full results from day two can be found here
The action resumes at 10am (1am GMT) on Sunday, with Tom Daley back in action in the Men’s 10m. Full coverage will once again be available live on FINA TV.