DIVERS TAKE NATIONAL HONOURS IN MANCHESTER
City of Sheffield pair Tony Alley (33) and Nick Robinson-Baker
(19) were crowned British Diving Champions in the Men's 3m
Synchro event when they came from behind in the final round
to claim top spot at the British Championships in Manchester.
Lying second going into their final two dives of six, Ally
and Robinson-Baker produced their best of the contest to give
them the lead in the last round of dives.
Ally and Robinson-Baker scored 373.77, Peter Waterfield and
Black Aldridge (Southampton) took the silver with 368.52,
and Callum Johnstone and Charles Calvert (City of Leeds) were
third with 349.50.
Ally, who contemplated retirement following the Commonwealth
Games in Melbourne this year, was delighted with the performance
of the new-look pairing.
"For the past three months I've been training with Nick.
He's been in Sheffield for a year now but has been recovering
from shoulder surgery in that time so we've only been together
for the past three months," said Ally.
"To perform as well as on our first time out is terrific.
It was an opportunity to blow away those competition cobwebs
and I just know there's a lot more to come.
"It's a good partnership because Nick has the strength,
technique, shape and character you need to dive on the international
circuit so it's a good pairing.
"We're very comfortable together off the board and we've
been working very hard, training together for six hours a
day, five days a week, to make sure we were in the right shape
and had the level of understanding needed to win the British
Championships."
Ally is aware of improvements needed to transfer their success
onto the international circuit but he's confident that will
come given more time together.
"We need to sharpen up in a few areas but we've got
a couple of months to go now until Melbourne and the World
Championships, and I'm confident we'll be there in the best
shape," said Ally.
"I still want to be up there with the best in the world
and Nick is young and hungry which is an ideal combination
to get us there."
For Robinson-Baker, the opportunity to dive with Ally was
not something to be missed.
"It's an honour to dive with someone with Tony's experience,
quality and international record. He's been an idol and to
dive with him is just brilliant. He's some one to aspire to.
"He's mentored me over the last three months and has
taught me about the discipline needed to achieve at the very
top. He's given me direction and motivation and I feel ready
for the international circuit."
In the Women's 10m Synchro defending champions Tonia Couch
(Plymouth) and Stacie Powell (Southampton) retained their
title with a score of 300.06. Silver went to Suzanne Collins
(City of Leeds) and Brooke Graddon (Plymouth) in 289.44, and
bronze went to Monique McCarroll (Southampton) and Sarah Barrow
(Plymouth) in 281.40.
"I'm pleased with that," said Couch. "We've
been diving together for just over a year now and that's been
our best score within that time.
"We set ourselves a target of 300 so to go over that
is a real bonus. It's the first time we've managed it and
to be honest there's a lot more to come."
Powell expects big improvements to be made as a pair now
they've achieved their target of 300 points.
"We've been working hard on the synchro element of our
routines and it came together well today. We're still able
to find more improvements though. We can both dive better
and I'm sure we'll see some big gains in the coming months,"
said Powell.
In the Women's 1m event Jodie McGroarty (City of Sheffield)
won with a comfortable lead of 223.55 from Charly Tomkys (Southampton)
on 207.80 and bronze went to Elizabeth Heald (City of Sheffield)
with 203.25.
"I was a bit disappointed as I wasn't as good as I was
in the preliminaries. I hope was hoping to take a step up
in the final but I dropped my second dive and left it late
to get back into the event," said McGroarty.
"I was annoyed but still managed to claw my way back
and that will be good experience for me. If that happens in
an international event you have to learn to cope with it and
put it right and that's what I did.
"The 3m is my main event so to take the gold in my warm
up event is pleasing but I don't want to make the same mistakes
tomorrow when I go off the 3m."
Ben Swain (City of Sheffield) took top honours in the Men's
1m event when he scored 320.85. Silver went to Kyle Prior
(Plymouth) with 283.35 and Charles Calvert (City of Leeds)
took the bronze in 275.75.
"It went really well for me out there and I did enough
in the end to take the British title," said Swain. "I've
done a lot of work on dive consistency over the past months
and that showed out there today.
"This event for me is more of a warm up for the 3m where
I'll be hoping to qualify for the Worlds in both the 3m and
1m. It's all to play for tomorrow."
The action on day one of the championships concluded with
two dive-offs, contested between the top four pairs within
the Men's 3m Synchro and Women's 10m Synchro, to decide which
pairs would qualify for the World Championships in Melbourne.
In the Men's event Ally and Robinson-Baker continued their
good form from the medal event to qualify for the World Championships
with a score of 766.44 from Waterfield and Aldridge with 736.74.
The Women's event also went to form with Couch and Powell
taking the Melbourne place with 614.16 from Barrow and McCarroll
on 586.80
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