HEALD SECURES JUNIOR SPRINGBOARD BRONZE
Teenage diver Elizabeth Heald has won a 1m Springboard bronze
for Britain at the European Junior Championships in Mallorca.
The 13-year-old, who was a gymnast before switching to diving
just two years ago, improved on her sixth place finish after
the preliminaries to bag the bronze.
Heald (City of Sheffield) left it to her final dive to secure
the podium spot, scoring an impressive 300.15 points in total,
and was just off Anna Pysmenska of the Ukraine who clinched
silver with 301.50 points. Viktoriya Khitrinska (also of the
Ukraine) won gold with 306.40 points.
Competing in her first international event, Heald was delighted
with her performance.
"I feel amazing," she said. "I've only been
diving two years so to come this far already is quite a shock.
"I was a gymnast before and a national champion but
was getting bored and too old so diving gave me something
new to do.
"I had hoped to make the final and was so excited to
do so. I knew I just needed to be consistent and keep strong.
It's incredible to get a medal."
The youngster will now be hoping to emulate that performance
and reach the finals at the Junior World Championships in
Kuala Lumpar in August.
In last night's other finals, Sarah Barrow of Plymouth finished
sixth inn the girls Platform event with 364.30 points and
City of Leeds' Suzanne Collins was ninth with 341.15 points.
In the boys 3m Springboard, Callum Johnstone (also City of
Leeds) was the only British male in the final and finished
in eighth position with 476.05 points.
In Monday's finals, youngsters Kyle Prior and Max Brick finished
fifth and seventh in the boys Platform with 391.15 and 345.00
points respectively and Heald secured a fifth place finish
in the 3m Springboard with 315.40 points.
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