Toulson and Couch finish fifth in 10m Synchro

Tonia Couch and Lois Toulson just fell short of a 10m Synchro medal, finishing fifth on day three of diving at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

The Team GB pair started well, executing a solid back dive piked for 50.40 points. Just as Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow had the night before, Couch and Toulson were last to dive.

There had been some spectacular diving from the Chinese and the Malaysian pairs in the first round, but the girls kept their cool.

By the end of the fourth round, it was all to play for. The Chinese pair, Chen and Liu, had taken a significant lead by this point, and the Malaysians and the Koreans were sitting pretty in second and third position.

All down to the final dive

On their fifth dive, the Koreans flopped their Back 2 1/2 Somersault 1 1/2 Twists to open up the competition once again.

On their final dive, Toulson and Couch needed 84 in order to claim bronze after the Canadian pair put in a fantastic final effort.

“I felt so much more relaxed after Tom and Dan winning a medal yesterday. I don’t know why but I felt so different after yesterday and I was buzzing.” – Tonia Couch

While the GB duo were in almost perfect synchronisation for their Inward 3 1/2 Somersaults, their entry was just off and their medal hopes slipped away as quickly as they had come. The girls finished on 319.44 for fifth place.

Couch commented: “The competition was so much fun and it was great to do synchro with Lois.

“Some of the teams here have been competing together for years. We’ve been competing together for eight months so I didn’t want to go in panicking and we just wanted to give it our all.”

Onwards and upwards

Despite just falling short at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, they have had lots of success on the World Series circuit over the past 12 months.

“It was amazing. It was one of the best competitions that I’ve done. I really enjoyed it and I’ve definitely got a lot of experience from it as well…we ended up getting a PB together so it shows that’s important.” – Lois Toulson

They have also showed that they have what it takes to compete against the world’s greatest divers, after some beautifully executed optional dives at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre in Rio.

As a relatively new pairing, we look forward to seeing more great performances in the future.

Top