Lee looking forward to British Diving Champs buzz

26 May 2022

Olympic champion Matty Lee is one of the athletes relishing the start of the British Diving Championships at Ponds Forge tomorrow - and he hopes there will be plenty of fans in the stands to cheer them on. 

The three-day national Championships get underway on Friday morning, in what is a key selection competition for World Championships, European Championships and Commonwealth Games later this summer. There is also the ongoing preparations for the team heading out to July's European Junior Championships in Bucharest.

The action begins with the Women's and Men's 1m Springboard events across the first two sessions, before the Women's 10m Synchro and Men's 3m Synchro - featuring the 'new for 2022' partnership of triple Olympic medallist Jack Laugher and Anthony Harding - bringing the curtain down on day one. 

Saturday's individual events are the Men's 3m Springboard and Women's 10m Springboard, when British National Diving Cup champion Emily Martin will go up against a field including Lois Toulson, Eden Cheng, Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Robyn Birch. The Men's 10m Synchro and Women's 3m Synchro are then the focus in session six.

The final day of competition at Ponds Forge sees the Women's 3m Springboard and Men's 10m Platform events take centre stage, with Matty Lee among those looking to catch the eye. 

Tickets for every session are still available HERE - and you can also purchase a full, three-day pass for the event. If you cannot make it to Sheffield, our livestream coverage means you do not have to miss a single dive. That will be available on the British Swimming YouTube channel. 

Diving platform British Diving Championships 2020
This is the first British Diving Championships since 2020

The 2022 British Diving Championships are back at this venue for the first time since the 2016 event, ahead of the Rio Olympic Games. So how is Matty feeling ahead of this competition?

"I'm looking forward to British Championships a lot. It's my first time competing individually since 2020, that's been a long while and I've always liked competing on my own. I'm also doing synchro with Noah [Williams], that's a new partnership," he said.

"It's my first proper competition since the Olympics in Tokyo, so I'm excited. It's nice to all be together, it's good to have Italy here as well as guests, it's always nice to see where other countries are at and we're all such good friends. I'm looking forward to it all!"

And what about a message for the British Diving fans?

"It will be great to have fans back in! It's also something we need to get used to again, because for the whole of 2021, we didn't have any spectators in any competition, and it changes a lot of the environment and how you do, how you deal with that sort of pressure," added Matty.

"It's almost like, 'let's shock ourselves'. Let's hope we sell this place out and get it packed, so you feel that buzz and get used to it again. I'm over the moon that we'll have spectators back in the pool." 

For tickets to the British Diving Championships, click here

Results from every event will be available on DiveRecorder during the competition