Albatross claim their first medal and Plymouth achieve further success

Albatross Diving Club won their first medal and Plymouth Diving Club built on Noah Underwood’s earlier heroics on day two of the Swim England Diving National Age Group Championships.

Joe Foster won gold with an incredible performance in the Boys Group A 1m with a huge score of 272.75.

Foster finished ahead of Alex Cookson of Star Diving Club Guildford who posted 255.00 to take silver.

Guest diver Matthew Marshall won a commemorative silver representing Edinburgh Diving Club, finishing 1.35 points behind Foster.

Inspired Plymouth add to tally

Seeing Underwood’s masterpiece of a final dive to snatch victory late in the first half of the day must have fired up his teammates, as Ben Hall posted 239.80 to finish third in the Boys Group A 1m to win bronze – their first of three medals.

Will Heath then won another bronze in the Boys Group C 3m after coming third with 202.55.

In the final event of the day, the Boys Group A/B Synchro 3m team of Alex Whittaker and Noah Underwood produced a winning total of 181.86 – just 0.18 points clear of Southend’s Noah Havis and Hayden Low – to win Plymouth’s third gold and sixth medal of the day overall.

Edinburgh Diving Club’s Logan Souttar and Matthew Marshall were awarded commemorative golds for posting a very impressive score of 223.08.

More medals for Saxton

In session six, Dive London Aquatics Club’s star boy Joshua Saxton picked up his third gold medal of the championships in convincing fashion.

After six rounds of diving in the Boys Group C 3m event, Saxton sat top of the leaderboard with 233.80 points.

His closest challenger, teammate Luke Raggett, finished more than 25 points behind him.

Aberdeen Diving Club’s Semyon Bykov and Samuel Tomisson both registered totals north of 200 and won commemorative silver and bronze for their efforts.

Amazingly, Saxton had already claimed the top prize in the Boys Group C Platform and the Boys Group C/D 1m Synchro on day one.

Diacon doubles up

Later in the day, there was more success for the hosts, as Izzy Diacon bagged her second gold of the championships by winning the Girls Group C Platform event.

Diacon ended on a score of 195.50. Samantha Barr from Southampton Diving Academy claimed silver with 188.85, and Southend Diving’s Emma Mansfield added to her medal tally by scoring 186.75 to take home bronze.

Diacon had already won the Group C 1m in session one of the championships.

To round off day two, Swim England president, Doug Whitlam, shared his thoughts as the competition reaches the halfway stage.

He said: “It’s been really interesting and enjoyable. The thing that strikes me is that the people involved with the sport are very passionate.

“It’s interesting talking to a lot of the coaches and officials around the poolside and how many of them are involved over a long period of time, long after when their own particular children or they themselves were participating.

“They’ve continued to support the sport, many in a volunteer capacity, and that’s been a positive thing without a doubt.

“The best thing for me is seeing the big smiles from the athletes on poolside.

“It’s impressive to see these young athletes throwing themselves into the air and controlling it.

“There’s a lot of learning they have to do and overcome and then compose themselves to perform on that split second – and then do it again, and again, and again.”

Story written by Lewis Heyn.

Pictures: Will Johnston Photography