Great Britain make golden start to Fina World Junior Diving Championships

Great Britain successfully defended their title in the Mixed Team event on the opening day of the Fina World Junior Diving Championships in Ukraine.

Lucas Thomson (Edinburgh), Yasmin Harper (City of Sheffield), Anthony Harding (City of Leeds) and Ben Cutmore (Dive London) struck gold with a score of 318.70.

China claimed the silver medal (307.50), with Australia third on 304.50.

The reigning champions and China were involved in a close battle for the title in Kiev and Harper scored an impressive 83.60 points for her forward 4.5 somersaults with pike – the team’s fourth dive – to give Great Britain the edge.

Thomson said: “It’s a great competition – it gives so much experience.

“We could not expect this win beforehand because the Chinese are very strong – they are in fact a top diving nation now.

“What does it feel to be a champion? A lot. The Mixed Team event is very special and very exciting. This shows British diving is hopefully progressing and we have a good future.”

Fourth for Harding in 3m Springboard

Harding was also in action in the Boys’ A 3m Springboard competition.

He qualified for the final in fourth place with a score of 537.30.

And although he improved on his score in the final, he had to settle for fourth place as he missed out during a five-way battle for the bronze.

China’s Lian Junjie eventually claimed the last place on the podium as he finished with a total of 570.40 – 8.15 points ahead of Harding’s 562.25.

Columbia’s Daniel Restrepo Garcia won the gold medal with a score of 583.35, with China’s Luxian Wu second on 582.50.

Great Britain have taken a squad of 14 divers to the Fina World Junior Diving Championships, at the Liko Sport Centre, which runs until Sunday 29 July.

Image credit: Julian Bellan Twitter

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