Daley and Reid clinch first mixed synchro gold together in London
BySportsbeat
Published 19/05/2019 at 21:02 GMT
Tom Daley hailed the strength of British diving after claiming mixed 3m synchro gold alongside Grace Reid for their first-ever win as a pair at the London leg of the World Diving Series.
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
In the finale at the Aquatics Centre, 24-year-old Daley joined forces with Reid to top the podium with 322.89 points for his second gold medal of the weekend.
The duo, who won world silver together in the 3m springboard synchro back in 2017, had already won three bronze medals and a silver this season before arriving in London.
And they held their nerve in a thrilling final to finish ahead of the Australian pairing of Maddison Keeney and Domonic Bedggood, who took the silver medal with 322.14 points.
Canadian duo Jennifer Abel and Francois Imbeau-Dulac completed the podium with a total of 319.02 points from their five dives in a thrilling conclusion to the action in London.
"Going into this, if you'd told me I was going to win a gold medal in the synchro with Grace I wouldn't have believed you, we have never ever won mixed synchro gold," said Daley.
"I can't believe it. I'm not normally lost for words but I am right now. It just shows how strong British diving is right now and it really is exciting to see the depth of talent.
"Not just the team that are diving here, all of the young kids that have come to watch us this weekend and the diving clubs all across the UK.
"It's just awesome to have everyone here and I can't wait to see what they're going to bring to the World Series in ten years' time."
Reid added: "I honesty can't put into words how unbelievable the support has been, they have honestly made this weekend for us. London World Diving Series, you smashed it.
"The past couple of months the team has been on the road, everyone is starting to feel very tired and to finish with that performance, we're just so pleased."
The victory for Daley came shortly after he had claimed the bronze medal in the men's 10m platform, with Chinese duo Hao Yang and Junjie Lian taking gold and silver, respectively.
Double Olympic bronze medallist Daley was joined in the final by 10m synchro partner Matty Lee just a couple of days after the pair won their first gold medal together with a British record.
Lee qualified in third place in his heat, which saw Daley progress to the medal showdown in first, but 21-year-old ultimately finished the final in sixth place with a total of 474.80.
Yang topped the podium with 559.15 points ahead of his compatriot Lian on 532.10, while Daley held off the challenge of Russian Aleksandr Bondar to finish third with 525.25 points.
Meanwhile, Reid was also in solo action before joining up with Daley to win 3m synchro gold, with the 23-year-old from Scotland competed in the women's 3m springboard.
She fell agonisingly short of claiming a first individual World Series medal of the season, finishing in fourth, but she set a new British record of 344.25 points in the process.
Australian Keeney took the gold medal with 368.30 points, ahead of Canadian Abel with 353.05 and Malaysian Nur Dhabitah Binti Sabri, who pipped Reid to bronze by just 0.15 points.
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