Great Britain’s Olympic diving champion Jack Laugher returned to the FINA/CNSG World Series Men’s 3m Springboard podium for the fourth time in 2019 but this time he upgraded to gold in Kazan.
Laugher claimed bronze in both Sagamihara and Beijing, then Montreal saw him step up into the silver spot and with less than a week to go until the series finale in London, he climbed to the top of the Russian podium.
The Leeds-based diver started the six round medal contest outside the top spot, with the eventual bronze medallist Jianfeng Peng of China, in control of the leader board but with three dives to go Jack took command thanks to his Forward 2½ Somersaults 3 Twists (5156B), which clocked up a handsome total of 91.65 points.
Just short of 500 points, 499.30 to be precise, secured Jack the World Series leg win, silver went to Russia’s Evgenii Kuznetsov, his final score 466.60 and China’s Peng finished with 464.95 points for bronze.
The second day of diving in Kazan also saw the Women’s 10m Platform event and in action for Great Britain were Lois Toulson and Robyn Birch, they both finished fourth in their respective semi-finals narrowly missing out on places in the final.
Rounding off the diving for the day was the Mixed Platform Synchro, which saw yesterday’s Men’s Platform Synchro silver medallist Matty Lee team up with Robyn Birch. The pair ranked sixth overall after completing their dive list with a score of 270.06.
The action resumes tomorrow in Russia with the Men’s 10m Platform, Women’s 3m and Mixed 3m Springboard events before the world’s best divers head to the UK capital.
The London Aquatics Centre will host the fifth and final of leg of the 2019 FINA/CNSG Diving World Series, 17-19 May, with more medals and the overall series titles up for grabs.
Tickets for that event, which is set to be a stunning spectacle, are still are available here.