Impressive Maisie bounces back from injury and illness to retain European title

Maisie Bond impressed as she retained her European Junior Diving Championships title – after recovering from injury and illness to top the podium in Romania.

Bond won the Girls B Platform competition in Croatia last year and was a comfortable victor in Bucharest after nailing her final dive.

Her triumph is all the more remarkable as she had knee surgery in February to repair a torn cartilage and had to join the rest of the team late after suffering with Covid.

Bond repeated the dive that won her gold in 2021 during the final round of the event – and it was the highest scoring of the competition.

Last year, the reserve two-and-a-half somersaults in tuck earned her 61.60 points.

This time round, Bond scored a huge 71.40 to finish with a total of 334.95 and win the title by 25.15.

It was the first of three medals won by the British team on the penultimate day of the championships.

Silver for Todd

Todd Geggus claimed a silver in the Boys B 3m Springboard – and was a whisker away from topping the podium.

He kept his cool throughout as he produced a series of consistent dives to finish with a score of 445.45, which was only 2.45 behind the gold medallist.

Geggus achieved a high score of 65.80 in round three for his reverse two-and-a-half somersaults in tuck which left him only 0.25 points adrift of the leader, Ukraine’s Kyryllo Azarov.

They both took on the same dive in the final round – a forward two-and-a-half somersaults, one twist in pike – but  Azarov outscored Geggus to secure the top spot.

Tilly and Evie claim bronze

Tilly Brown and Evie Smith were bonze medallists in the Girls A/B Synchronised 3m Springboard final.

Smith, who is part of the Team England diving squad for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, and Brown were involved in a real tussle for the medals.

Heading into the final round, they were in third spot but in contention for the gold and silver.

They achieved their highest score of the competition of 54.90 with their last dive –  a forward two-and-a-half somersaults, one twist in pike – to end with a total of 248.34.

That left them 3.21 adrift of the silver medallists and 9.06 behind the gold-medal winning duo.

The British team have now picked up 11 medals so far during the championships with the final day of action tomorrow.