Matty Lee is one of the most promising young divers in Great Britain and competed at his first senior World Championships in the summer. This year he has his eyes firmly set on the Rio 2016 Olympics and will be looking to secure an extra spot for Great Britain in the 10m Platform at the World Cup in February.
The build up to Nationals was really good I increased my training schedule and trained harder with lots of dives off 10m. I went into the competition injury free, feeling positive and in good shape. I was also trying to improve my diet in the lead up to Nationals and I am now working hard on further improving this.
I had a great weekend at the competition. It was the first national competition of the season and a lot of us haven’t competed against each other for a while so no one knew what to expect. But it was really great to catch up and see the diving family again - I love them all!
I was really pleased with my performance at Nationals, I think my increased training schedule really paid off – I got silver in 10m platform and Tom won the gold. I enjoyed the 10m competition and was really happy with silver. I started the competition with some really strong dives and was in the lead from the first round. I also got a couple of 10s for one of my dives in the final so that was a definite plus. On the strength of my performance I was selected for the British team going out to the World Cup in Rio at the end of February.
I’m really excited and happy to be selected for the World Cup team and to be going to Rio. I think it’s one of the biggest teams we have ever taken to a World Cup with 15 divers. Over half the divers are from City of Leeds Diving Club which is really nice because we know each other really well. I think that it’s great that we will be at the same pool being used for the Olympics and get to experience a taste of what it will be like during the summer.
The World Cup is very important for GB; this is the last chance to get a quota place for the country for the Olympics so competition will be strong. Everyone will be fighting to get one of those few remaining places. It’s going to be a toughie. It’s also a chance to practice in the venue that will host the diving at the Olympics which is especially important for those that have already qualified a place. As I mentioned in my previous blogs Rio is an outdoor pool event so it’s really valuable to get used to it, particularly the varying conditions that come with diving outdoors - even night diving which will happen at the Olympics in the summer.
So my aims for the World Cup; well I’d love get through the prelims and semis and come in the top 18 which would qualify a place for GB on 10m for the summer - that’s my ultimate aim. But I’ll just try and perform at my best and whatever happens it’s valuable experience again on the senior circuit and it’s all good grounding for the future … so we will just have to see.