YOUNG DIVERS HEAD TO MADRID
A squad of seven of Britain's up-and-coming-diving talent
will compete at the FINA Grand Prix in Madrid this weekend
as they continue to familiarise themselves with international
competition.
Madrid is just the second senior international meet for the
majority of the squad whose first outing was alongside Olympic
silver medallist Peter Waterfield at the last FINA Grand Prix
in Rostock, Germany, two weeks ago.
Leeds coach Edwin Jongejans, who is working with the British
team in Spain, highlighted the importance of the Grand Prix
meets for the junior athletes.
"It's important that these young divers gain experience
in these international meets to see the level of world competition,"
he said. "Some of them have only just started to compete
at this level.
"Most of them are just out of the junior squads and
so a meet like this is really important for their long term
development.
"They have been training well and we're happy with how
they look ahead of the Grand Prix. We're in a unique position
with all seven divers from different academies, but they are
working well and most of them will have already competed together
at the Junior Olympic Programme and Synchro camps.
"The competition here is fierce and so the individual
divers will be looking to finish top 12 to make the finals."
The third leg of the FINA Diving Grand Prix takes
place in Madrid, Spain, from 17-20 March.
The British squad is as follows:
Rebecca Galantree (City of Leeds)
Stacie Powell (Bagiu Diving Academy)
Hayley Sage (Beaumont Diving Academy)
Blake Aldridge (Crystal Palace Diving Academy)
Gary Hunt (Southampton Diving Academy)
Gareth Jones (Plymouth)
Ben Swain (City of Sheffield)
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