DALEY TAKES EUROPEAN CROWN AT JUST 13 YEARS OLD
At just 13 years of age Tom Daley became European diving
champion in Eindhoven tonight and with it wrote his name into
the record books as Britain's youngest diving gold medallist.
And on the way to the podium the teenager managed to dispatch
both the current World Champion and World Cup champion in
the Men's 10m Platform.
For Daley, who secured Olympic qualification last month at
the World Cup in Beijing, it was his first taste of European
competition as until his 13th birthday last May he was too
young to compete at European Junior level.
But undaunted, the Plymouth Diving youngster showed he was
comfortable among the very best that Europe has to offer and
held his nerve on the final round to stand head and shoulders
below the rest on the top step of the podium.
"Every ounce of energy I've ever put into diving has
been worth it. To become European Champion is just an amazing
feeling," said Daley.
"My main focus is still the 2012 Olympics but it's nice
to pick up a medal or two along the way. It just feels phenomenal
- 13 and European Champion. Its days like these that I've
always dreamt about.
"My performance wasn't the best, I missed my third routine
and the last one didn't go exactly to plan but I held it together
and in the end it was enough. I really can't explain how happy
I am and what this means to me."
Daley showed his obvious talent from the very first round
with a backward, two-and-a-half somersault, one-and-a-half
twist to take a score from the judges of 83.30 to go into
round two of six placed second.
With a field comprising World Cup Champion Sascha Klein of
Germany, World Champion Gleb Galperin as well as Dmitriy Dobroskok
of Russia and the experience of Ukraine Kostayantyn Milyayev,
a medal was always going to be a tall order for the small
diver.
Daley kept pace with the leaders with a confident forward,
three-and-a-half, piked to score 79.50 and put him third on
162.80 but he missed his entry on his inward, three-and-a-half
with tuck and a low score of 59.20 saw him slip to sixth with
a score of 222.00 at the end of the third round.
Daley wasn't alone with his error with world number one at
the moment Klein missing two dives in a row and Galperin,
returning from injury, also struggling. Dobroskok had the
miss of the day on his fourth round to fall off the pace with
a score of just 25.00.
His armstand, back, three somersaults with tuck saw Daley
leading the event going into the penultimate round as it draw
four 10s from the judges to give him 94.40 and a total of
316.40.
Daley secured a medal on his fifth dive, a backwards, three-and-a-half
with tuck, to receive yet another four 10s, a score of 97.35
and a total of 413.75 but Klein had recovered from his earlier
form to sit second with just one dive to go.
With most of the more experienced divers opting for their
big dives, with a degree of difficulty score of 3.8, Daley
had to relay on perfection on his 3.4DD to stand a chance
of the gold and a European title at just 13-years-old.
And it wasn't his best dive of the competition but Daley
did enough with his reverse, three-and-a-half with tuck to
take 78.20 to give him a total of 491.95 to take his first
senior international title. Klein pushed Daley all the way
with his final dive and a score of 487.60 to take the silver
and Italy's Francesco Dell Uomo took the bronze in 481.30.
Britain's last European Champion was Tony Ally in 1999. The
last platform title went to Brian Phelps who was just 14-year-old
when he won gold in 1958.
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