Goodfellow and Reid impress in Springboard national title wins

A nip and tuck Men’s 3m Springboard final delivered Friday night excitement, as the British National Diving Cup podium places shared by Daniel Goodfellow (Dive London Aquatics), Jack Laugher (Leeds Diving) and Jordan Houlden (Sheffield Diving) were ultimately separated by just 5.70 points after six rounds of diving.

For gold-medallist Goodfellow, the initial rise to the top of the standings came in the third round as he nailed a Reverse 3 1/2 Somersaults Tuck (307C) - matching the 89.25 points scored by Laugher in the previous round with the very same dive.

A misplaced fifth round effort dropped Goodfellow back in behind Laugher, however with the decisive final dive on his list - a Back 3 1/2 Somersaults Tuck (207C), the Dive London man was rewarded to the tune of 84.60 points from the judges to edge out his Tokyo 2020 synchro partner for the title with a overall tally of 476.00 points. Laugher awarded the silver for his total of 474.55 points.

Meanwhile, Houlden had maintained a medal potential position throughout. The Sheffield diver really tightened up the final podium standings after narrowing his fairly significant 30.30 point deficit on Goodfellow at the end of the fourth round, closing out with his two best dives of the competition to move up and claim the bronze on a score of 470.30.

“Yeah I feel quite good, it was really close going into the last round and you know with the dives that we’re all doing as well it could have been anyone’s - that meant a little bit of pressure which is good.” said Goodfellow

“My prelims this morning were a bit shaky, and usually I qualify quite well in the morning so that was a bit weird for me. I felt a little bit tired but you know I got the job done.

“It’s just about having trust in the work I’ve been doing leading up to this [to reset for the final]. It’s quite early for a nationals, and we’ve only done one competition this season so far at the London Legacy, so for the second comp to bounce back from that fills me with a lot of confidence because my list wasn’t really that great.

“I did a few really good dives and some not so good dives, so the fact I’ve come away with gold and not performed to my full ability fills me with confidence leading into this big year.”

The Women’s 1m Springboard opened the Friday finals programme, with Grace Reid picking up where she left off after topping the morning’s preliminaries, as she delivered a polished set of five dives claim the first individual title awarded of the meet.

Having opened strongly with her Backward 1½ Somersaults Pike (203B), the Dive London Aquatics athlete never relinquished the lead throughout – closing her performance with a crisply executed Forward 2 1/2 Somersaults Pike (105B) for 58.50 points and rounding up her score to the gold medal winning tally of 271.75.

Reflecting on the positives she can take forward into the coming days, Reid said:

“I’m pleased with how it went. In many ways this morning and this afternoon were just a warm up for Sunday’s 3m [Springboard] which is the main event, but I’m very pleased with such a consistent day, no misses, and I’m excited for what’s to come.

“The aim for consistency is just built into the process we’ve been doing, working a lot mentally this year. I actually haven’t trained 1m as much but it shows, I think, training that mentality to approach every dive with the right process and corrections that you will get those kind of results.”

With an important year ahead, the two-time Olympian added:

“I‘m really excited, training has been going great and I’m just loving where I’m at right now. Loving the process of getting better each day and where my diving is at the moment is really exciting, so yes this is the first step of the Paris 2024 year, but it’s an exciting step to be taking.”

Finnish diver Lauren Hallaselkä placed second overall on 243.50 points, with Southampton Diving Academy pair Tilly Brown (226.25) and Maya Kutty (225.90) respectively awarded the British National Diving Cup silver and bronze.

The Men's 1m Springboard and Women's 10m Platform events take place on Saturday as the competition in Edinburgh heads into its penultimate day.

For full results from the opening day of action, visit DiveRecorder.

Image credit: Ian MacNicol/Scottish Swimming