ALLY AND SHIPMAN'S SILVER SWANSONG
Tony Ally and Mark Shipman competed in what could be their
final major international to double Team England's diving
tally with a silver in the 3m Synchro.
The pair, who between them boast more than 30 years of international
competition (12 of those spent in partnership), put up a fight
in an extremely tough field to take the silver with 423.80
points. Canadians Arturo Miranda and Alexandre Despatie won
gold with 444.87 points and Steven Barnett and Robert Newberry
of Australia took bronze with 421.35 points.
"This competition was head to head all the way,"
said a delighted Ally. "It was outstanding but we were
up for it. We've prepared really well and finished on a massive
high. Our final dive is one of our favourites and we knew
we could bank on it."
"We didn't feel we had the silver until we had finished,"
added Shipman. "It could have gone either way. It wasn't
our most difficult but it had to be spot on to give us the
score we needed and we did well to clinch it. It was an outstanding
performance."
Ally and Shipman will now decide whether to continue in international
competition or step down from the springboard.
In the 1m Springboard, Tandi Indergaard (City of Leeds) and
Clare Blencowe (Sheffield) finished outside the medals. Indergaard
wasn't able to improve on her position in the preliminaries
and finished seventh with 518 points and Blencowe, who is
still recovering from a shoulder operation, improved her rank
going into the finals to finish ninth with 457.90 points.
"I was annoyed that I went over on my back one and a
half somersault because the rest of my dives were spot on
for me," said Indergaard. "I wasn't sharp this morning
so was playing chase with this new format of roll over scores.
I just hope that's got rid of the nerves ahead of the 3m tomorrow."
16-year-old Blencowe was pleased with her performance at
her first major international meet.
"I think I did a good job," she said. "It
was a new high score for me and to be honest I'm lucky to
be here. I had a shoulder operation six months ago and am
still receiving treatment. It's getting better all the time
and that shows."
Katie Hamilton, who was due to compete in today's one-metre
event had to withdraw from competition due to a leg injury.
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