Harding over the moon to win Youth Olympic Games silver

Teenager Anthony Harding said he was over the moon after winning a silver medal at the Youth Olympic Games in Argentina.

The 18-year-old, from Lancashire, finished second in the Men’s 3m Springboard final in Buenos Aires with a score of 559.50 points.

He was 16.55 points behind Colombia’s Garcia Daniel Restrepo, who topped the podium with a total of 576.05, but Harding was far from disappointed.

The City of Leeds diver said: “I would have been happy with fourth so this is amazing.

“I’m over the moon with silver. My coach and I discussed what I was going to do before the competition. My first dive was a new one and we thought we would try it out and see how it went and it’s paid off.

Maria Papworth set for springboard test

“For the last dive, I can do the four and a half but I chose not to do it here as training has been limited so we stuck with the easier one and it still went well.

“I knew the Colombian would come back as he’s got some big dives.”

Harding had qualified from the prelims in second place with a total of 534.95 points and improved his display in the final to seal the silver medal.

Russia’s Ruslan Ternovoi won the bronze medal with a score of 551.20 points.

Dive London’s Maria Papworth is also taking part in the Youth Olympic Games and is in action in the Women’s 3m Springboard event.

The Youth Olympics run until 18 October and Team GB are competing in 17 of the 32 sports taking place.

Image credit: IOC/Ivo Gonzalez