Jack's the lad as Great Britain head to European Championships with high diving hopes

But when Laugher steps onto 3m and 1m platforms at the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh, where he won his first Commonwealth title in 2014, age will seem no barrier. The Harrogate ace has occupied a position of dominance in the sport since his teenage years, as the reigning Olympic and European champion in the 3m synchro alongside Chris Mears.

So perhaps seniority is no surprise for Laugher, who leads the likes of Noah Williams, 18, and 19-year-old Katherine Torrance north of the border.

He said: "I do see myself as one of the older people on this team because I have been doing it for such a long time!

"I am relatively confident going in to the Europeans as this year as I've been competing well so far and am happy with my dives.

"It's great that there are so many young springboard divers coming through in the British team, it makes me really proud to be a part of it. It's great to see so much up and coming talent in the squad.

"Ross Haslam always tells me when I've done a good dive, and says he'd love to have the same level as success that I've had, but no one has come through on the team and said I've inspired them yet - that would make me feel weird. And even older!"

Haslam rests among key medal hopes – alongside Grace Reid, he won a synchronised bronze medal at the Diving World Cup in China, their first tournament competing in conjunction.

Laugher's girlfriend Lois Toulson is clearly a key influence – the pair train at the same Leeds club – and he credits the 10m platform specialist with keeping him on even keel.

"I used to get angry with myself if I messed up a dive and would just tell everyone to go away," he added.

"But now I just look over at Lois and that calms me down and I know it's going to be OK.

She understands the sport better than anyone and I would sometimes struggle to talk about it to my coach Adam, or Chris - she just understands me."

After enduring a tough 2017 blighted by a foot injury, Laugher has been resurgent this year and clinched three golds on the Gold Coast and won synchro silver with Mears at the World Cup.

He added: "I was extremely happy with how the Commonwealths went. I managed to improve on 2014 which is what I'm always looking to do.

"It was a difficult competition dealing with the outdoors because the sky was blue, the water was blue, it just made everything a bit harder.

"Then we had the World Cup, which I ended up dropping a dive in in the competition with Chris. We always have a debrief after each event, and if Chris did a great dive I'll tell him, some days he has are bad, some days I do but we never compete or hold it against each other.

"And I dived really well in the individual so it could have been gold on another day."

Sportsbeat 2018