Paris stars return to medal winning form at Aquatics GB Diving Winter Cup

Several English divers that represented Team GB at Paris 2024 returned to national competition at the Aquatics GB Diving Winter Cup.

Five of the six titles on offer across the three days at Ponds Forge were won by English divers with City of Sheffield’s Jordan Houlden particularly impressing.

Six months on from his debut Games, he secured back-to-back springboard victories as he showed some strong form to start the new calendar year.

Houlden began his weekend with an emphatic performance in the Men’s 3m Springboard, finishing close to 100 points ahead of the field.

Ultimately closing on 485.55 points, the Sheffield Diver was not far off his pre-final target of 500. Matthew Dixon (Aquatics GB Performance Centre London) took silver on 386.70, with Cameron Gammage (Southampton Diving Academy) rounding out the medal spots on 356.75.

It was a nip and tuck contest in the 1m event but Houlden gained momentum throughout to come away with the crown.

The City of Sheffield diver had Paris 2024 bronze medallist Anthony Harding to catch in the early stages but his fourth-round reverse 2 ½ somersault pike allowed him to jump up into the lead.

Rounding out his remaining dives solidly with a further two 70-plus point efforts saw Houlden take gold on 406.90 points, just ahead of Dixon (396.55) with Harding (391.75) completing the podium.

On starting the season well, Houlden told Aquatics GB: “This is a nice place to start my season, my home pool where I train day in and day out – so I do know the pool.

“The boards are new, they only got installed last week so that’s still new to me, but it is really nice to be in my home pool and get both the 1m and 3m gold medal at the Winter Cup.

“The last couple of years it was more about getting consistency, and I’d say this season is all about getting a nicer end to push into the higher points, add a bit more form on everything and the little things that can be improved at the start or end of a dive.”

Young divers shine in Sheffield

Various members of Swim England’s Junior Development squad also took part in the competition at Ponds Forge across both individual springboard and platform events.

Amongst those was World Junior medallist Maisie Bond, who took silver in the Women’s 10m Platform. She recorded a strong total of 340.95 across all five rounds as she finished only behind an eye-catching list from Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix.

The Dive London athlete set the tone early on and went on to receive nothing less than a score of eight from any of the judges throughout.

Speaking on her return to competition since Paris, Andrea said: “You can’t just rush into things straight away, you have to really take it slowly and allow for your body and mind to readjust. Alex [Rochas] is really good at helping me to adjust, grow and get stronger.

“It is lovely to see so many familiar faces, and nationals is always fun – it’s a way for me to enjoy competition and get back into that routine of competing. Having family here is what’s most special to me as when back diving in front of a crowd they’re the only ones I look for.”

Elsewhere, six further members of the Junior Development squad took to the boards.

Todd Geggus stood out as he made the final of the Men’s 3m Springboard, setting a score of 331.30 for sixth place. Connor Lano, Oliver Heath, Sebastien Willcox, Robbie Wood and Simeon Greig also competed in that event whilst Wood also impressed in the Men’s Platform.

Final day glory for Harper and Cutmore

The final day of action in Sheffield saw Paris medallist Yasmin Harper and Ben Cutmore come away with national gold.

Paris 2024 synchro bronze medallist, Harper, put in a classy performance in the Women’s 1m Springboard.

Her consistency sent her to a title-winning score of 321.65, which included a fourth round Reverse 2 1/2 Somersault Pike (305B) that was the best individual dive score of the contest.

Bringing the curtain down in Sheffield was the Men’s 10m Platform final, with both Ben Cutmore (Dive London) and Euan McCabe (Plymouth Diving) stepping up their performances from prelims to final in a bid for the national title.

Around three points split the pair as they went into the final round but Cutmore’s Forward 4 ½ Somersault Tuck scored 83.25 to see him extend his advantage and come away with the gold.

To catch up on the action, you can re-watch the competition on the Aquatics GB YouTube channel, whilst all the results available via Dive Recorder.