Laugher and Mears bring home synchro silver at Glasgow 2018

Jack Laugher and Chris Mears sealed the deal on a silver medal in the Men’s 3m Synchro event earlier today at the Glasgow 2018 European Championships.

The Olympic champions performed consistently throughout to finish with a total of 430.62, an agonising 0.54 points behind the winners, Russia.

After the required dives, the pair were ranked second with 98.40, just shy of the magic 100 point marker.

From round three onwards, the British and Russian pairs were in close contention for the top spot on the podium and in the end Russia just came out on top.

The Leeds-based duo’s best dive of the afternoon was in the fourth round, their inward 3 1/2 somersaults in tuck earned them a strong 85.68.

Mears said: “We were leading at the end of round three and that was a really good position for us to be in but naturally adds a little bit of pressure. I didn’t quite hit my last dive but I really enjoyed the home crowd, the environment and especially having lots of my family.

“It’s always great to dive alongside Jack and I’m happy. I’m happy with that result.

Laugher added: “It was never going to be an easy thing going up against the world-class Russians, there’s a lot we can learn from these championships and a lot we can take into next year. They were very difficult opposition and I think we did a cracking job.”

The gold went to Evgenii Kuznetsov and Ilia Zakharov of Russia who scored 431.16 and bronze medallists Patrick Hausding and Lars Ruediger of Germany scored 394.77.

Torrance finishes in 10th place

The Women’s 1m Springboard final saw Katherine Torrance fight hard and use the experience as a vital learning opportunity.

Torrance returned to the 1m board with a fresh mentality for this afternoon’s final.

She held her nerve and performed well among a talented international field at Edinburgh’s Royal Commonwealth pool.

The 19-year old finished 10th overall with a final score of 228.90, with her strongest dive of the day being an inward 1 1/2 somersault in pike which scored 51.60.

Torrance said: “There are lots of positives I can take away from today’s event and yes I am disappointed but that’s sport for you.

“I still have the 3m Synchro with Grace [Reid] on Sunday which I’m really looking forward to and hopefully, I can prove what I know I’m capable of in that one.

Russia secured a one two finish with Mariia Poliakova scoring 285.55 and Nadezhda Bazhina taking the silver with 276.00. The bronze medal went to Elena Bertocci of Italy (271.25).