Haslam springs to World Champs bronze

3 Feb 2024

Ross Haslam claimed the first World Championship medal of his career by winning bronze in the Men's 1m Springboard on day two of action in Doha. 

The City of Sheffield diver - who took the European title in this event last year - looked on good form in the prelims and was keen to carry that into the final, having watched teammate Grace Reid secure silver in the women's contest on night one, as well as a world title for the Mixed Team quartet of Tom Daley, Scarlett Mew Jensen, Dan Goodfellow and Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix. 

After two rounds of the final, Ross sat seventh in the standings and needed a solid set of dives from there to be in contention. That is exactly what he delivered. 

A score of 72 points for his third-round Forward 2 1/2 Somersaults 1 Twist Pike (5152B saw him jump up to third, and that is where he stayed heading into the final round, before he put down an Inward 2 1/2 Somersaults Pike (405B) worth 73.10 to ultimately make sure of the bronze at the end of the contest, finishing on 393.10. 

Having battled back from several injuries in recent years, the result meant so much to Ross on his return to the global stage.

"I can't believe it, I honestly can't believe it. I felt like I knew I was capable of doing it, I just didn't necessarily believe that it would happen for me, so I'm dumbfounded," said the Tom Owens-coached diver.

"I used to get so worried about competing so well and put so much pressure on myself in training that I got to a point where I was thinking, 'I'm not even enjoying what I'm doing here'. So I just tried to start enjoying it again, and then with a bit of enjoyment I started to feel things move again and then I was like, 'okay, maybe I'm not that bad at diving!'

"The 3m is the main goal [with Olympic qualification up for grabs], the 1m was just a bonus, we thought we'd use it to get into the competition and get rid of the first competition nerves. So let's go, we've got the 3m now and it's eyes on the prize with that."

Sunday's diving programme sees the start of the Women's 10m Platform at the prelims stage, with Lois Toulson and Spendolini-Sirieix in action, before Jack Laugher and Anthony Harding team up again in the Men's 3m Synchro, after claiming World Championship silver at the previous two editions in 2022 and 2023. 

To find out how to watch every event from Doha 2024 and to check out full results, visit our key information page