British Champions were crowned across five events at the opening two days of the 2025 Aquatics GB Diving Championship, with both Men’s and Women’s individual 1m and 3m springboard events taking place alongside the Women’s Platform Synchro.
Thursday’s Men’s 3m Springboard served up a dramatic final with Jordan Houlden coming out victorious thanks to an outstanding final round Forward 4 1/2 somersaults tuck (109C).
The Tom Owen-coached diver ticked off the first half of his diving list with three strong dives to place him over 20 points clear at the end of the third round. A misplaced fourth dive from Houlden saw Jack Laugher take advantage to hit the top of the standings - with the now Sheffield teammates closely tied on the leaderboard to the events conclusion.
Houlden’s aforementioned final dive – scoring 98.90 points – was enough however to see him clinch the gold by a 2.5 point margin on a closing score of 466.55. Laugher placed second, with Matthew Dixon (London Performance Centre) in third on 430.00 points.
Commenting on the emotions of a rollercoaster Men’s 3m contest, Houlden said:
“Over the years I’ve learnt that being calm is what works for me - for others they thrive off adrenaline, but I find that just moving on after a dive and calming down before going again is the best reset.
“I felt like I got a bit of a slingshot from the board on my triple out, so it feels like you’re going a lot quicker than you are and I put it in a bit short. You have to put those kind of dives to one side as the competitions not over until it’s over.”
On his final dive of the competition clinching British gold, Houlden added:
“In the morning I didn’t perform it as well as I wanted to, so going into the afternoon I practiced it in training ahead of the final and just upped it a level.
“In the moment I felt a bit of shock that’d I’d actually done it for the title, I’m just thankful for my coaches, friends and family for all the support around my training and career.”
An equally enthralling Women’s 3m Springboard affair the following day saw Amy Rollinson top the British podium, with the Stephen Hewatt-coached diver finishing strongly to move up through the medal places in the later rounds.
Yasmin Harper set the early pace with consistency across the first three dives, while Grace Reid posted the highest scoring individual dive of the event with her second round Forward 3 1/2 Somersaults Pike (107B) for 69.75 points.
Rollinson meanwhile built her way through the competition, first entering the medal places in the fourth round with a polished Forward 3 1/2 Somersaults Pike (107B) of her own as misplaced dives from competitors occurred elsewhere. Closing out well on a Forward 2 1/2 Somersaults 1 Twist Pike (5152B) took Rollinson to 308.10 points and with it a maiden individual 3m springboard national title.
Reid closely followed her London Performance Centre teammate on a total of 303.75, with Harper (Sheffield Performance Centre) taking bronze on 295.55.
Reacting to her British title win, Rollinson said:
“I’m shocked! I’ve just come back from European’s which I was happy with in general but to be able to reproduce a good performance here is great.
“I was relaxed going into it, I felt I needed that approach as last week [in Turkey] I did that and almost enjoyed the competitions more so I tried to employ that tactic again and do the same thing. The focus coming in was to hopefully get all my dives on my head and so to actually win is great.”
The opening final of the championships saw a first ever senior individual British title for Tilly Brown in the Women’s 1m Springboard.
Great consistency saw the Sheffield diver lead the standings across all five rounds of the contest, with four of her dives scoring above 50 points – her best coming in the closing round scoring 55.20 on a Reverse 1 1/2 Somersaults Pike (303B) to take her gold medal winning total score to 264.05.
Yasmin Harper took British silver on 249.30 points, with Evie Smith (London Performance Centre) completing the podium on 248.70 points in bronze position.
“I mean it makes me feel very happy because it’s my first national title, so it feels good that it’s started the week of like this and hopefully more positive results will follow as well.”
In the corresponding Men’s final, Ross Haslam produced a dominant display from the 1m springboard to add a latest British title to his career accolades.
The 2023 European champion and 2024 world championships medallist was only briefly held off the top spot on the leaderboard for the opening round – with eventual bronze medallist, Noah Penman (Aberdeen Diving Club), edging it at that stage.
From there Haslam’s lead only continued to grow only to cap his performance with 86.70 on his closing Inward 2 1/2 Somersaults Pike (405B) to take his total to 434.85.
Matthew Dixon was second on 371.85 to claim his second national medal of the championships, with Penman taking bronze on 364.00.
“I’m relieved to put in a performance like that. I know I can do 1m, but if I’m honest I’m probably still a little bit angry and disappointed at myself from yesterday’s 3m - I used that as fuel to the fire today to put together a good consistent list,” said Haslam.
Following their accomplishments on the World Aquatics World Cup series, Lois Toulson and Maisie Bond continued their fledgling platform synchro partnership with a strong list in Sandwell.
Going through the routine of competition in their first national championships together, Toulson and Bond produced a pleasing Inward 3 1/2 Somersaults Tuck (407C) in the penultimate round as their standout dive en route to confirming their Women’s Platform Synchro title.
“It was nice to get that practice of our routine – there’s definitely things in there that we’ve been working on and that were better so I’m really proud of that. We still know things we need to work on going into future competitions too but overall I’m pretty pleased,” said Toulson.
The programme of events at the 2025 Aquatics GB Diving Championships continues across the weekend with the Women’s and Men’s individual platform and 3m synchro competitions taking place at Sandwell Aquatics Centre.
Follow updates and behind the scenes coverage of the Aquatics GB Diving Championships across Aquatics GB social channels, with live streaming of the event available on YouTube. Full entry lists and results are available on the DiveRecorder website.