The fifth diving finals session at 2023 World Aquatics Championships saw Daniel Goodfellow secure yet another Olympic quota place for Great Britain on his way to a third-place semi-final finish in the Men’s 3m Springboard, as Lois Toulson rounded off her campaign with a solid fifth in the Women’s Platform final.
Goodfellow put in a solid series of scores across the six-dive list – his best dive across the first half of the competition being a 78.20 score in his Inward 3 ½ Somersaults Tuck (407C) on his way to a provisional and comfortable fifth-place standing as the competition hit the halfway stage.
It was the back half of the Olympic medallists list where he made his move up the order, thanks to 85.80 and 91.20 scores on his fourth and fifth dives respectively – the latter-scoring Forward 4 ½ Somersaults Tuck (109C) being the joint-highest individual dive of the penultimate round and setting him up for his eventual finish behind the two Chinese divers.
The 26 year-old finished on a score of 477.20 and will now go third from last in the running order for tomorrow’s final (20th July), with the action getting underway at 10am BST.
Toulson’s time competing in Fukuoka came to an end following a solid performance in the Women’s Platform final, with the 23 year-old improving on her dives across the back half of the competition to see her finish in a respectable fifth place.
With the two Chinese divers taking the competition out in scintillating style, it quickly became apparent that the bronze medal would be a straight shootout between a handful of divers who were all in fine form at the Fukuoka Prefectural Pool.
Following her silver medal in the Women’s 10m Synchro with Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix earlier in the week, Toulson saw a drop in her second dive which wound her up in eleventh position with three dives to go – sparking an inspired run-in from the European champion.
Her three consecutive 60+ scoring dives began with an Armstand Back 2 Somersaults 1 ½ Twists Free (6243D) on the third round of dives (62.40 points), before culminating in an impressive 72.00 score for her Back 2 ½ Somersaults 1 ½ Twists Pike (5253B) – leaving her on a total score of 319.30.
Giving a levelled take on her performance after the race, Toulson was pleased with her recovery through the rounds.
“I was definitely hoping for a top eight finish, even though ideally I’d have been a lot higher. I hurt my thumb two weeks ago in the prep leading up to the competition so I haven’t been able to work on the entry as much as I’d have liked, which is annoying because that’s what I’ve been working on at home.
“To get that score without massively hitting any of my dives is pretty good. I’m a little bit annoyed but still happy. Overall I’ve got all the results I was hoping for and the goals I’ve set myself so I’m really happy with that – I just wish it would’ve been a bit of a better finish but I’m still really proud of myself.”
For full results and all the info on how to watch the rest of the diving programme from Fukuoka 2023, visit our 'What's On?' page.