Millie Fowler and Tom Daley grab golds at British National Diving Cup

Millie Fowler caused one of the biggest shocks at the British National Diving Cup with the best result of her career so far.

And Tom Daley sent a message to the world’s best divers that he means business after a 12-month break from the sport with a dominating display in the Men’s 10m Platform final on the final day of the competition at the Plymouth Life Centre.

City of Sheffield’s Fowler struck gold in the Women’s 3m Springboard final and said she was ‘overwhelmed’ with the result.

She finished on 302.20 to run out a clear winner, with Dive London duo Maria Papworth Burrell and Scarlett Mew Jensen second and third respectively.

Fowler, whose previous best result was a silver medal at the European Junior Championships in 2016, said: “I’m so overwhelmed and I can’t really believe that’s just happened!

“I’ve never really done a dive list before where I’ve put all my dives together, five in a row, so I’m just so happy.

“My first goal was to make then final and then to make a PB, as that’s always the goal for every competition.

“This means so much – I never really thought I’d do it. I’m lost for words.”

Dominant Daley grabs second gold

Meanwhile, Daley added the individual platform gold to the synchro title he won alongside new partner Matty Lee.

Leading from the start, Daley saved the best until last as he scored 106.2 points with his final dive –  a back 3 ½ Somersaults – to take his tally to 510.35.

The reigning world champion said: “I’m really happy with the way it went – of course there were things that I could improve on, but overall, and to finish on the dive I did, I’m really happy.

“It’s nice to be able to go back to training next week and have those things that I have to work on, as you don’t want to be diving at the very, very best of your ability at the start of the year – you want to be saving it for the World Championships.

“I knew I was in the running to get a 500 point score, which is what every men’s platform diver wants to get to and I knew I needed like 100 points.

“Standing on the end of the board, I knew I’d have to get it moving and do a good one, so I was really happy with it.

“I love coming back to Plymouth and diving in front of a hometown crowd. It’s been nice to have my mum and Lance watching, and my brothers were able to come along, so I’m really happy about that.”

The battle for the silver and bronze medals proved to be incredibly tight with five divers in contention.

But it was Plymouth’s Matthew Dixon who grabbed second spot, with Dive London’s Kyle Kothari third.

Image credit: British Swimming Twitter page

 

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