YOUNG DIVING SQUAD TAKES ON WORLD IN SPAIN
A young and relatively inexperienced British Diving squad
will continue their international development in Madrid this
weekend at the latest leg of the FINA Grand Prix series.
Seven of Britain's emerging diving talents will be aiming
to establish themselves as well as their reputation within
the ranks of the world's elite.
The 3m and 10m boards will be in action with medals available
for individual and synchronised performances and the British
contingent's aim will be for consistency as they target top
12 finishes.
One of those in action will be Plymouth Diving's Tom Daley
(13) who will experience only his second international meet
following a promising start at the Canadian Grand Prix in
Montreal last month.
For National Performance Director Steve Foley the Spanish
event will provide an indicator of where the divers are in
their development towards the London 2012 Olympics.
"The Madrid meet is another step along the road to the
London Olympics for this team of young divers," said
Foley.
"For Daley, it's just part of his graduation and it
will be interesting to see how he goes. I'm not sure if the
standard of competition will be as strong as that in Canada
last month but it's another international meet for the young
talent and it will be interesting to see how he handles that
side of things."
The British team suffered the loss of Elizabeth Heald last
week when the City of Sheffield diver, a European Junior medallist
from 2006, was forced to withdraw with a stress fracture in
her lumbar.
But there is better news for Nick Robinson-Baker (City of
Sheffield) who makes his comeback from an injury sustained
at the World Championships in Melbourne earlier this year.
"Blake and Nick will have their first synchro hit out
since March when Nick tore his ankle ligaments in training,"
said Foley. "It's his first competition after seven weeks
out so he's not back to the top of his game yet but this event
will help to put it behind him and build on what promises
to be a great partnership in the 3m Synchro event.
"It's an important event for us and we need to get the
guys back training and competing with each other. They have
the talent but now we need to put the hours in to build that
special understanding and bond the event needs."
For Gallantree, McGroarty and Barrow it's another chance
for them to establish themselves on the international circuit.
"They've had some good performances to date but we want
to see consistency at this level and this is the ideal opportunity
to achieve that and to build confidence," said Foley.
"It's a very inexperienced team but we need them to
be finishing in the top 12 of grand prix meets like this to
ensure we're on track fro developing this talent for the London
2012 Olympics."
The Madrid leg of the FINA Diving Grand takes place
from 8th to 10th June.
The British Diving squad comprises:
Blake Aldridge - Southampton Diving Academy
Ben Swain - City of Sheffield
Nicholas Robinson-Baker - City of Sheffield
Thomas Daley - Plymouth Diving
Rebecca Gallantree - City of Leeds
Jodie McGroarty - City of Sheffield
Sarah Barrow - Plymouth Diving
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