Couch secures final spot in 10m Platform semi

Tonia Couch made her way into the Women’s 10m Platform final at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games after a tight finish in the semi-final.

Couch had a shaky start, faltering the execution of her Forward 3 1/2 Somersault to score a measly 45.00 points. The Team GB diver had a similar experience in the prelims with her first dive. She needed to get her head together if she wanted to make the final.

By round three she seemed to be back in her form from the prelims the night before.

Plymouth based Couch pulled off her Inward 3 1/2 Somersaults with some style, getting her entry almost perfect. She was awarded 72.00 by the judges and went into the penultimate round just outside the top 12.

In round four she made more ground and went into the final round in 11th place. Her final dive was her lowest tariff dive, but also her favourite. She needed to nail the execution if she was going to make the final.

Couch looked unfazed as she prepared herself for the Reverse 2 1/2 Somersault. Although her entry was a little bit off, the execution of the dive was beautiful and she scored 71.40 to go through into the final in 10th place.

Barrow couldn’t find form in 10m prelims

While Tonia Couch made her way into the semi-final with relative ease, for team mate Sarah Barrow, it was an uphill struggle through the prelims.

She looked strong at the end of the first round, having scored around 20 points higher than Couch. Unfortunately rounds two, three and four did not see the same class of diving and she was soon sitting just outside of a place in the semi-final.

Her final dive was well executed, but the score was still nowhere near her first. She finished in 23rd place with a total score of 277.40.

Barrow commented: “My warm up was actually quite good so I felt good going into the competition as that was probably the best I have dived since I have been out here so I felt ready.

“My first dive was good but my second dive was the one that had been a bit troubling in training. Sometimes it works in your favour for competitions and other times it doesn’t, and it didn’t here.”

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