Williams lands maiden international title in Montreal

2 Mar 2020

Noah Williams claimed his first gold medal on the international stage to cap a successful opening leg of the FINA Diving World Series for Britain's divers in Montreal.

Williams produced a composed display in the Men's 10m Platform final on Sunday to take the crown, leading from the third dive onwards to finish with an overall score of 493.35 - more than 20 clear of second-placed Viktor Minibaev from Russia. 

That meant a memorable result for the Dive London Aquatics athlete. 

"It was a great feeling to win my first ever individual World Series event," he said.

"Going into the last dive, I knew I just needed an average dive to win and I put twist (Back 2 1/2 Somersaults 2 1/2 Twists Pike (5255B) in last because it's probably my most consistent dive, so I was fairly confident at that point. I'm very pleased with the result - I showed some consistent diving, and it's my first individual international win."

That historic gold for Williams was followed by silver success for Tom Daley and Grace Reid in the weekend-closing Mixed 3m Synchro.

The pair's tally of 309.57 was easily enough to see them repeat their result from Montreal in 2019 - and they were less than five points off the winning score of home favourites Francois Imbeau-Dulac and Jennifer Abel.

That was one of three British silvers for the weekend, as 2019 overall Men's 3m Springboard champion Jack Laugher began his defence of that title by finishing second on Saturday. 

The reigning Olympic synchro champion recovered from sitting fourth after two dives by scoring 81.60 with his Inward 3 1/2 Somersaults Tuck (407C) third up - and he continued from there to reach the second step on the podium.

Jack Laugher 3m Silver Montreal.jpg
Jack Laugher claimed Men's 3m Springboard silver in Montreal, as he did in 2019 (above)

It was his second silver of the Montreal leg, too, following Friday's Men's 3m Synchro final, alongside Dan Goodfellow.

The City of Leeds duo led at the end of rounds one, two and five , before narrowly missing out on gold to the Russian pair of Evgenii Kuznetsov and Nikita Shleikher. 

The opening weekend of this year's FINA Diving World Series also brought two fourth-placed finishes for the British team, with the majority of the athletes making their international bows for 2020.

Lois Toulson finished one place off the podium in the Women's 10m Platform event, while that result was matched by Reid and Kat Torrance in the Women's 3m Synchro, with only 4.12 points in it.

The Women's 10m Synchro contest on Friday, meanwhile, saw Toulson and Eden Cheng combine to finish fifth, as did Matty Lee and Williams in the Men's 10m Synchro. Daley was fifth in the Men's 10m Platform event won by Williams, a solid return after a spell out with injury. His final dive scored 100.80, the highest single tally of the final.

The British team are back in Diving World Series action in Kazan, Russia later this month (22nd-24th March), before the finale in London from 27th-29th March.

Tickets for that are still available HERE.