Dixon not concerned by Daley comparisons as he bids for European success
BySportsbeat
Published 25/06/2018 at 14:30 GMT
British diver Matthew Dixon insists he is not fazed by comparisons with Tom Daley as he prepares to conclude his season at the European Championships in Edinburgh.
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The 18-year-old has gone from strength to strength since winning gold in the men's 10-metre platform at the British Championships at the start of this year.
He followed it up by claiming two silver medals at the Commonwealth Games in the individual and synchro event – the latter with team-mate Noah Williams – before finishing in the top ten at the FINA World Cup in China.
His stellar year has resulted in the teenager being compared to fellow Plymouth-born diver Daley, a double world champion and Olympic bronze medallist in the 10-metre platform, who also started out at a tender age.
But Dixon is refusing to get carried away with the hype as he leads Great Britain's bid for platform success in Edinburgh in the absence of Daley, who has taken the rest of the season off.
"I'm not thinking about anything but diving well and making sure my results showing that I'm trying to be the best," he said. "I'm not letting the Tom Daley comparisons get into my head.
"Once the Europeans are over I'm going to go on holiday, then start learning some new dives for the new season, although I can't say what they are just yet."
Dixon and Williams will once again join forces in the synchronised event at the European Championships after their silver medal success at the Commonwealth Games.
The pair nearly beat Daley and fellow former Plymouth diver Dan Goodfellow on the Gold Coast, but they were just edged out by the Olympic medallists in the final round.
And Dixon revealed he and Williams will often try to challenge each other to see who can get the best score when they compete together as a way of taking the pressure off.
"We do sometimes compete against each other in the synchro," he said.
"We will both look at the scores and see who got higher and I'll go ‘I got an 8.5 for that and you got an 8 so it's 1-0 to me.
"It makes it a bit more fun and takes some of the pressure off.
"At the Commonwealth Games we were a bit gutted not to get a gold together, but coming out with a silver against Tom and Dan we were still happy."
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