Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix adds European gold to her Commonwealth crown

Great Britain’s Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix has been crowned European champion less than two weeks after topping the podium at the Commonwealth Games.

The 17-year-old won gold in the Women’s 10m Platform final to make it two medals so far at this year’s European Aquatics Championships.

She was also part of the bronze medal-winning quartet in the Mixed Team Event on the opening day of diving in Rome.

Spendolini-Sirieix was in the silver medal position for the majority of the final, but a sensational final dive saw her earn gold.

The youngster started strongly with 60.00 for her forward 3 ½ somersaults in pike, placing her in fifth after round one.

She then moved up to second behind Ukraine’s Sofia Lyskun after round two’s inward 3 ½ somersaults in tuck, which scored 65.60.

It was a lower score from the Ukrainian in round three and Spendolini-Sirieix seized the opportunity to close the gap – scoring 64.00 for her armstand back 2 somersaults, 1 ½ twists.

After round four, the gap between the top two was less than three points with the GB diver having achieved 67.20 for a reverse 2 ½ somersaults in tuck.

Spendolini-Sirieix needed a score of 73 points to take the European title and she produced her highest scoring dive, the back 2 ½ somersaults, 1 ½ twists in pike, for 76.80.

That saw her finish with a total of 333.60 – just 3.80 ahead of Lyskun who took silver after a tightly fought contest between the pair. In third was Germany’s Christina Wassen with 314.10.

Great Britain’s Lois Toulson was on the hunt for another European medal in Rome after winning gold in the Mixed Synchronised Platform final alongside Kyle Kothari.

However, a mistake on her opening dive left her with too much to do to get back into the medal places.

Toulson gradually climbed up the standings throughout the final and finished in a solid sixth place with 295.70 points.

After her win, Spendolini-Sirieix said: “My heart was hurting so much I kid you not.

“I could feel it beating out of my costume and I could feel it in my throat as well but I just needed to go for it, get that jump, get that twist, get in the pike shape, trust God and it just came out how I wanted it to come.

“I’m really happy with all the changes that I’ve made, I’ve improved a lot and I can’t wait for next season.

“I will be doing the synchro with Lois on Saturday so tune in for that and I’m really, really excited. It’s going to be the first time that we do synchro so I can’t wait to see what we can do.”

Silver for Reid and Heatly

Grace Reid and James Heatly teamed up to take the European silver medal in the Mixed 3m Synchronised Springboard final.

The pair added European silver to their Commonwealth gold medal and bronze medal at the FINA World Diving Championships.

They finished less than four points behind the eventual gold medallists, Lou Massenberg and Tina Punzel of Germany.

Reid and Heatly racked up 290.76 points and scored highest in their penultimate dive, the forward 2 ½ somersaults, 1 twist in pike, which achieved 67.50.

On the result, Reid said: “I think it’s been such a long season for James and I so to put in that consistent performance today and to be walking away with silver, I’m so pleased.

“I think both of us were just really looking to have a bit of fun and just relax, enjoy it, and that’s the result we’ve come away with so we’re really pleased.”

Heatly added: “For us to complete the set – we got a world bronze, a European silver and a Commonwealth gold – we’re really happy and we really enjoyed it.”