Tom Daley and Matty Lee win gold and crowned European champions in Budapest

Tom Daley and Matty Lee secured Great Britain’s first gold medal of the European Aquatics Championships after a superb display in the Men’s 10m Synchro final.

Following up on their recent gold at the FINA Diving World Cup in Tokyo, the pair scored higher again in Budapest to be crowned European champions.

It was a close finish, with the Russian pairing of Aleksandr Bondar and Viktor Minibaev scoring a huge 96.12 for their final dive, meaning Daley and Lee’s score of 477.57 claimed the win by just 5.61.

After finishing on top of the podium, it marked their first European gold in the 10m Synchro event.

Despite a close battle with Russia, the GB duo impressed throughout, with the highest scoring dive of the final being their back 3 ½ somersaults with pike (97.20) in round four.

Russia finished with a score of 471.96 to take home the silver medals, with Germany’s Timo Barthel and Patrick Hausding in bronze (424.32).

Daley will be back in action competing in the Men’s 10m Platform on the final day of diving action, with Noah Williams also set to feature in that event.

On their win, Lee said: “I feel really, really good. The whole lockdown situation made me really miss competing and I feel like I learnt why I love doing the sport.

“I’m now trying to embrace it all I can, enjoy it and just working really hard, and it’s all paying off. I’m just really happy with where I’m at.

“It means so much to win this title and I’m very, very happy with it. There’s room for improvement still, even with a PB, but I’m just happy with how the World Cup went and now the European Championships.”

Daley added: “I’m absolutely delighted and that’s the first time I’ve won a synchro gold medal at the European Championships.

“I think we were five points higher than our previous personal best at the London World Series, so I’m just really happy.

“Our last dive wasn’t the best we could have done it, so there’s still room for improvement and we’ve got eight or nine weeks until we compete at the Olympics.”

Scarlett Mew-Jensen shows progress

The Women’s 3m Springboard final saw young Scarlett Mew-Jensen finish in eighth place, with a score of 281.25.

The 19-year-old showed improvement after finishing 14th in the event back in 2019.

It was a strong start, scoring 66.00 and 69.75 for her opening dives, but scores of 43.50 and 42.00 meant she slipped down the leaderboard.

The gold medal winner was Germany’s Tina Punzel (330.85), Italy’s Chiara Pellacani claimed silver (321.15) and Sweden’s Emma Gullstrand was the bronze medallist (319.60).