Daniel Goodfellow rounded off his first World Championships campaign since 2019 with a sixth-place finish in the Men’s 3m Springboard, with compatriot Scarlett Mew Jensen making the final of the women’s edition of the same event to secure an Olympic quota spot on another high-quality day of diving action in Fukuoka.
Goodfellow qualified in third place for the men's final following a strong showing in the semi-final, which set him up to dive third from last in the running order at the Fukuoka Prefectural Pool.
The 26-year-old kept his first three dives all above a score of 70 as the event hit the halfway stage, making the most of a slip-up from China’s 3m Synchro champion Daoyi Long through a stunning Reverse 3 ½ Somersaults Tuck (307C) on the third round (for a score of 84.00) to put himself in provisional second place.
His grip on the podium places was not to hold true as the event developed, as two successive dips in his otherwise consistent form through the three rounds of competition pushed him into sixth place with one dive remaining.
Despite the setback, he went on to produce his second best dive of the list in the final round – a Back 3 ½ Somersaults Tuck (207C) worthy of 81.00 points and seeing him finish up sixth in the world with a total score of 438.05 in what was his first individual springboard performance at this level.
Despite missing out on a medal, the 2016 Olympic medallist spoke of his delight at securing a 2024 Olympic quota place in the event by qualifying for the final.
“In hindsight I am a little disappointed because I think at round four I was in second, but when you’re competing with the standard of these boys – when you drop it’s game over, so you have to maintain 8.5s and 9s even on some of the hardest dives in the world," said Dan.
“The Men’s 3m Springboard has some of the highest standards in the world at the minute and I would’ve had to get a PB to medal today, but in hindsight I’m [also] a little frustrated because I knew I could’ve been on the podium today as I’ve been doing some of the best diving I have ever here.
“I’m happy to have qualified a quota spot for Great Britain, as it takes the pressure off the teams next year, but I think I’ve tried to show what I can do. Overall my diving has been good here, just with a couple of bad hurdles in the final. This is my first springboard event at a World Championships. So finishing sixth overall is not too bad, but it’s just frustrating by my own standards.”
Also taking to the boards was Scarlett Mew Jensen, with the Women’s 3m Synchro silver medallist from earlier in the competition attacking the individual edition of the event, as she qualified for tomorrow’s final in 10th place after a good recovery in her semi-final outing.
After qualifying in 10th position from the prelims session - with fellow synchro silver star Yasmin Harper missing out in 24th - Mew Jensen opened her account with two 63.00 scores in both the Reverse 2 ½ Somersaults Pike (305B) and the Inward 2 ½ Somersaults Pike (405B) to see her in seventh with three dives remaining.
A dip in execution marks over her next two dives followed, before a great recovery on her Forward 3 ½ Somersaults Pike (107B) saw her highest-scoring individual dive of her list with 63.55 points – contributing to an overall score of 302.05. The result also means that yet another Olympic quota place has been secured for Great Britain for next year’s Games in Paris.
Sharing her thoughts on the news of her qualification, the 21-year-old was delighted to have made the cut for the final, which begins tomorrow morning (21st July) at 10am BST.
“It means the world to me. It's my second World Champs, this will now be my first individual World Champs final, I'm over the moon to be honest. I stayed really steady, I tried to stay steady, I was trying not to do anything too special. I couldn't have done anymore, that was all I had left so I am very relieved," she said.
She also gave a closing comment on the emotional challenges that come from winning a medal earlier in the competition.
“It was a tough one. Getting my first World medal with Yas, a couple of days before the individual, I wasn't really sure how I was going to come down. But again, because it's so brutal, you just have to conserve your energy, and it seemed to work out really well for me. I am so tired, I am going to sleep so well tonight!" added Scarlett.
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.