BRITISH DIVERS TAKE ON WORLD'S BEST IN SHEFFIELD
Britain's top divers will be taking to the boards in Sheffield
at the FINA Diving World Series as they host the world's elite
divers in a two day competition just two months out from the
biggest sporting event in the world this summer.
Over 70 of the world's most talented divers will battle it
out for honours in the 3m and 10m individual and synchro events
over the two days at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre.
Only the world's top eight divers have been invited to compete
in the event and number one ranked nation China will be there
in force but will face tough competition from Canada, Australia,
Russia, the USA, Italy as well as a young British contingent.
The British squad includes many of the same names that competed
in the World Cup in Beijing in February. European Champion
Tom Daley (Plymouth Diving) will be competing in both the
10m synchro and the 10m individual as he returns to action
after earlier this month competing in the Mexico leg of the
World Series.
Olympic medallist Peter Waterfield (Southampton Diving) will
be targeting a comeback from his recent injury in the men's
10m individual, while Monique McCarroll (Southampton Diving)
and Sarah Barrow (Plymouth Diving) will compete in the 10m
Synchro at their first World Series on home soil together.
For National Performance Director Steve Foley competing against
the world's best this close to the Olympics will be an important
test for his relatively young team.
"When we were first awarded the FINA Diving World Series
last year we knew it would provide an excellent opportunity
for us to give our squad more competition experience on home
soil," Foley said.
"After the inaugural event last year we realised that
this is the perfect event to get our athletes better prepared
in the long term. It allows us to prepare our athletes for
the pressure they will be under when a competition like this
is on home soil with success at the London Olympics in mind.
"This event is like being in an Olympic final and it
is a good test to see how the athletes deal with that with
Beijing just around the corner. They will be head-to-head
with the world's best and it will educate them on how to deal
with the situation and give them competition awareness."
There are four changes to last year's squad and with the
inclusion of Hayley Sage (City of Sheffield), Blake Aldridge
(Southampton Diving), Monique McCarroll (Southampton Diving)
and Sarah Barrow (Plymouth Diving), Foley is looking for them
to show their consistency in Sheffield.
"This will be a big moment for the divers that didn't
compete last year," Foley said. "Competing on home-soil
will be like nothing they have done before.
"They have dealt with the pressures of the World Cup
and the European Championships and I think this will have
prepared them well for the FINA Diving World Series. But I
will be interested to see how well they cope here."
The squad have had strategically placed events to make sure
they keep their competition exposure high as they prepare
for the tough four months ahead of them, and for Foley the
athletes selected will be able to both draw on past experience
and learn from each other as they deal with the pressure of
this competition.
"We have a good mix of youth and experience, the ages
of the divers range from 13 - 30 years-old and they have all
learnt to support each others needs the best they can,"
Foley said. "With the younger divers coming onto the
scene it is pushing the more experienced athletes forward
too."
Nicholas Robinson-Baker and Ben Swain (both City of Sheffield)
claimed the only medal for the British team at the inaugural
event and Foley will be looking to see how far they have come
in the past year.
"For me, Ben and Nick need to keep up their momentum,"
Foley added. "They have performed well over the past
10 months and they need to be able to show the world they
can keep it up.
"They have a good chance of being able to consolidate
their growing reputation on the world stage. They need to
show me their consistency and by doing so will make the world
sit up and listen."
European Champion Tom Daley (Plymouth Diving) returns to
the FINA Diving World Series after proving to be a giant killer
at last year's event. The 13-year-old claimed his place in
the final of the men's 10m Platform after beating the World
number four Dmitriy Dobroskok in the semi-final.
"Tom has come back this year with a much harder tariff
than before," Foley said "Tom sets his own high
standards and he loves to compete so I will expect another
strong performance from him in Sheffield.
"We want to see the best possible performance from Tom
at London 2012 and this means we have to prepare him as best
we can for competition on home-soil so we have to grasp opportunities
like the FINA Diving World Series in Sheffield."
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