TAYLOR BOOKS SPOT IN PLATFORM FINAL
Olympic silver medallist Leon Taylor continued his fine
form to book a place in this year's ten-metre platform final
at the US Grand Prix.
Sheffield's Taylor scored 454 points to secure a third place
finish and is now looking forward to challenging for a medal
in Sunday's showcase final in Fort Lauderdale.
It was an excellent performance from Great Britain's Athens
hero, particularly after a fourth place finish at the Canadian
Grand Prix in Montreal last weekend.
"Leon gave us a bit of shock when he dropped his twister
dive in the semi-finals, but none of the other divers could
stop him qualifying," said GB coach Adi Hinchcliffe.
"He's been looking good and it was a very steady performance
to qualify for the final."
Indeed, and Taylor's solid performance in the individual competition
made up for the disappointment of missing out on competing
in the ten-metre synchronised event alongside fellow Olympic
medal-winner Peter Waterfield.
Waterfield managed to dive alongside Sheffield's Tony Ally
in the three-metre springboard synchronised final, but aggrevated
his tricep muscle and withdrew from the ten-metre competition.
It was the second time in eight days that Waterfield has been
forced to withdraw from the ten-metre discipline where, alongside
Taylor, the pair won GB's first Olympic medal for 44 years
in Greece last summer.
"Peter's damaged his tricep muscle, so again we felt
it wasn't worth risking him in the ten-metre competition,"
added Hinchcliffe.
"It was a medical call because we want him to be fit
for the World Championships later this year."
Waterfield was not the only injury concern for the British
team. Ally, the three-times Olympian, also withdrew from the
three-metre springboard individual competition because of
a recurring back problem, an injury which forced him not to
compete in Canada.
Hinchcliffe said: "Tony's been struggling and been in
a lot of pain. We're hopeful he and Peter will be back to
full fitness soon."
Meanwhile, there was some success in the women's ten-metre
platform competition courtesy of Brooke Graddon.
The youngster shone again having starred in Canada, scoring
an impressive 297.42 points to finish seventh in the preliminaries,
ahead of the Olympic bronze medallist and world champion.
Graddon was just 0.42pts behind US diver Brittany Viola, before
narrowly missing out on a place in the final with a score
of 283.83pts.
Fellow platform diver Stacie Powell finished 17th in the preliminary
stages, also missing out on the final.
|