BRITISH PAIR BEAT OLYMPIC CHAMPIONS ON WAY TO GOLD
British divers Ben Swain and Nick Robinson-Baker proved
they are fast-becoming a world class pairing when they beat
the current Olympic Champions on their way to taking gold
at the British Diving Championships in Manchester.
The City of Sheffield synchro pair, who have only dived together
for the past six months, showed synchronicity, quality and
consistency to dominate the Men's 3m Synchro event with more
than 50 points to spare over their closest rivals - the Athens
2004 Olympic Champions from Greece.
Swain and Robinson-Baker opened confidently to set the tone
on day one of the Championships at the Manchester Aquatics
Centre and never looked like giving up their immediate advantage
despite such a strong field.
The British pair took the gold in 413.13 from Olympic Champions
Thomas Bimis and Alexandros Manos with 361.65 and French pair
Damien Cely and Matthieu Rosset took the bronze in 360.60.
"That's what we've been working towards, we dived very
well and that's our best result to date," said Swain.
"It's our highest ever score and shows that, despite
being a relatively new pairing we're improving all of the
time and the future looks good with a very big year ahead
of us."
Robinson-Baker was delighted with the result given the fact
an injury to a toe has meant that training hasn't been ideal
"We went into this meet treating it as if it was next
month's World Cup in Beijing. Our preparation hasn't been
perfect because of my injury so to get that score off the
back of that is impressive and we're really pleased.
"We've already qualified for the World Cup so this event
was designed to boost our confidence but it's exciting because
a score like that next month will put us right into contention
for Olympic qualification."
British Championship silver went to Charles Calvert and Chris
Mears (City of Leeds and Southampton) with 320.55 and Fred
Woodward and James Milton (City of Sheffield) took bronze
with 282.06. The two pairs took the gold and silver British
junior titles respectively.
Olympic hopefuls Sarah Barrow (Plymouth) and Monique McCarroll
(Southampton) took the honours in the Women's 10m Synchro
with a score of 314.10. Silver went to Tonia Couch (Southampton)
and Stacie Powell (Plymouth) on 310.32, with bronze going
to Carol and Helen Galashan (City of Leeds) with 275.52.
"We were quite nervous going into the event," said
McCarroll. "It's the first time we've won a national
title and we desperately wanted to do well in front of a home
crowd.
"We've been working very hard on our required dives
and that's set us up well for a big score in today's event
and we're delighted with that.
"Our aim at the world cup is to dive as well as we can
and give ourselves the chance of going to the Olympics in
August. Top eight will qualify Britain for the Olympics and
that's where we need to be."
The Men's 1m event saw young Oliver Dingley (Harrogate District)
come out on top of a tight three-way battle.
The 15-year-old made a strong start and showed nerve and
ability until he missed his fourth round dive. Going into
the final two rounds Dingley was behind Gareth Jones (Southampton)
and just ahead of Charles Calvert (City of Leeds).
But Dingley saved his best until last to ensure he took the
gold in 298.95 with Calvert pressing hard for the silver on
286.80 and Jones slipped to third with a missed dive but finished
on 271.40.
Dingley also won the junior event ahead of Calvert and Chris
Mears of (Southampton) on 265.40.
In the Women's 1m Katie Hamilton (City of Sheffield) took
the gold after a close contest with eventual silver medalist
Rebececa Gallantree (City of Leeds).
Gallantree lead for the first three rounds of dives before
Hamilton took the initiative with a well executed forward
two-and-a-half somersault in the pike position on her penultimate
dive.
Hamilton held off a strong come back in the final round to
take the British title with 248.30 from Gallantree on 240.10
and Chloe Hurd (City of Leeds) took the bronze with 189.60.
Hamilton also took the bronze in the Women's Junior event
ahead of Hurd and Amy Dawson (City of Leeds) on 188.85.
British divers will compete at the FINA Diving World Cup
in Beijing next month to try to qualify Britain for the 2008
Olympics in August.
In the Women's 10m Synchro Barrow and McCarroll have qualified,
Swain and Robinson-Baker have earned the Men's 3m Synchro
place, and Tandi Gerrard (City of Leeds) and Hayley Sage (City
of Sheffield) will go in the Women's 3m Synchro. Tom Daley
(Plymouth Diving) and Blake Aldridge (Southampton) have qualified
in the men's 10m.
All spots are available for the individual events with the
country's best divers competing for two places off each of
the boards.
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