SENIOR DIVERS ROUND OFF NATIONAL CHAMPS
Britain's divers provided an exciting display on the final
day of national competition in Manchester as seasoned competitors
Tandi Gerrard and Peter Waterfield took the honours in their
strongest events.
Commonwealth bronze medallist Tandi Gerrard kept up her 100%
strike rate with her third gold in the pool in as many days.
The City of Leeds diver added the 3m Springboard to the 1m
Individual and 3m Synchro titles she won earlier and her final
score of 305.25 was a personal best.
There was a tight battle for the remaining two podium spots
but Gerrard's Leeds team mate Rebecca Gallantree came out
on top for silver with 281.10 points. City of Sheffield's
Claire Blencowe won bronze with 279.90 points to edge out
Jodie McGroarty (also City of Sheffield) who dropped from
second to fourth position on her final dive.
Gerrard, who could only manage fourth place in this competition
last year, was delighted with the result.
"That's a real relief to win and to set a new PB,"
she said. "It was a hard competition and I only qualified
sixth in the prelim, so I'm happy with that. I was careful
what dive list I chose - I knew the competition would be tough
and it would be hard to qualify.
"I've had a good weekend here in Manchester and I'm
happy with what I've achieved. I've not been in good form
recently, but the last few days have shown I'm back on the
up and I'm ecstatic my team mate Becky medalled too."
The men's Platform final provided an exciting climax to the
three-day meet as the next generation of divers challenged
Southampton-based Waterfield for the top spot. 15-year-old
Callum Johnstone (City of Leeds) was awarded 10-points from
one judge for a brilliantly executed Reverse 2½ Somersaults,
which gave him the highest total of the competition.
Southampton's Gareth Jones took the lead at the halfway point,
but was overtaken by club mate Waterfield who won gold with
447.50 points. Jones won silver with 426.80 points, to finish
two points of Johnstone who won bronze with 424.80 points.
Despite taking the title, Waterfield was disappointed with
his performance.
"I'm pleased I won, but I didn't dive how I wanted to,"
he admitted. "I dropped a few dives, but I did well on
the 3m, so I've got to take away the positives.
"I'm tired after a busy few months of competition, but
that's no excuse - we're all in the same boat. I'm going to
have a short break before I continue preparations for the
World Cup. I wanted to put in some good dives today to set
me up for that, but I guess it's just one of those things
and I'll need to look forward now."
National Performance Director Steve Foley believes this National
Championships has seen a step forward from the country's younger
talents.
"It's been a very good meet and I'm impressed with the
way the young divers have stood up to the challenge,"
he said.
"The women's 3m Springboard was really exciting. Jane
Smith had dominated the event for years with only Tandi coming
close, but now we're seeing the juniors coming through and
as they gain more experience we'll see even more improvement.
There's suddenly more depth and class in this event, which
is a good sign for the future."
However, he warns that there is still a way to go for Britain
to be able to challenge across more events on the international
circuit.
"My one concern is that the divers performed markedly
better in the semi-finals and finals, but poorly in the preliminaries,"
he admitted. "In international competition this won't
be good enough so we'll be looking to address that and perhaps
change the qualification process at future meets.
"No one's qualified for the men's 3m Synchro at the
World Cup, which is a little worrying, but it just shows the
gap that has been left by Tony Ally and Mark Shipman. We do
have an injury to our other synchro partnership who had been
performing well, so it's not all bad.
"Following Athens, our policy was to ensure that as
many of our divers as possible gained competition exposure
and experience. Now we need to toughen up and if you don't
make the qualification standard, you're not good enough to
compete.
"The divers need to learn they need to step up if they
want to succeed in international competition. Over the next
two to four years, we're going to make it even tougher so
we're in a position to challenge for medals at London 2012."
The teams for the World Cup and European Championships will
be announced next month.
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