Daley wins third European 10m Platform title

Tom Daley put on a thrilling display for the home crowd on the closing night of the LEN European Championships diving competition, adding a European 10m Platform gold to GB’s medal count.

Rebecca Gallantree showed her mettle, bouncing back from her fourth place finish in the 3m Springboard to finish with a silver medal with synchro partner Alicia Blagg. The pair took Britain to the top of the medal table with their performance in the 3m Synchro Springboard.

Daley delights crowd with European 10m Platform gold

The house was packed at the London Aquatics Centre on the closing night of London 2016, with spectators clambering to see Daley in action in the European 10m Platform event.

The GB diver put on a breath-taking display, barely missing a beat, scoring between 96 and 100 for five out of his six dives. He finished the event with a score of 570.40 to add a second gold medal to his tally.

It was lovely to come in and get the gold medal,” said Daley. “But it wasn’t really about that for me. It was about being in the right place at the right time and now I’m in the perfect position going into the Olympic Games.

“Viktor Minibaev has been a tough competitor of mine all year at the World Series and we always have that rivalry but I’m glad I came out on top today.

“I’ve been training well and I just wanted to be able to come in and dive at my best. I’m looking forward to Rio now. It’s an outdoor pool and anything could happen.” – Tom Daley

18-year old Matty Lee also put in the best performance of his career in the 10m final, finishing fifth with 465.10.

“It was a personal best and I’m really happy with the score,” said Lee, who has picked up bronze medals in the Team Event and Mixed 10m Synchro in London.

“It was a big competition for me because I wanted to do my best and prove that I’m the second best platform diver in Great Britain and I think I definitely did that today.”

3m Synchro Springboard silver medal

Despite a frustrating fourth place in the individual 3m Springboard event, Gallantree moved into the 3m Synchro event with her partner Blagg looking confident and ready to give the competition a run for their money.

They took the silver medal with a score of 319.32, which meant the British duo had secured GB a top spot on the medal table, with 11 medals over the course of the week. This was the best GB diving performance at a European Games.

“It was obviously a little bit disappointing to finish fourth in the 3m last night,” said Gallantree. “But to come back out here tonight with Alicia and put in that performance to get a silver medal is more than I could have hoped for today.

“If we can just put a little bit more work on those first two dives, then watch out Rio.” – Rebecca Gallantree

“Our first two dives weren’t quite as good as we know we can do them. So from that point onwards, we really had to fight to get back there into the medal spots and I think we showed just good our optionals can be.”

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