Williams and Spendolini-Siriex win silver to earn first GB medal of European Champs

Noah Williams and Andrea Spendolini-Siriex secured Great Britain’s first medal of the European Aquatics Championships after taking silver in the mixed 10m Synchro on day two.

The pair were consistent throughout but found themselves in fourth place after their forward 3 ½ somersaults with pike in the third round, just 0.60 behind the German duo.

However, two strong rounds saw them soar up the leaderboard into second place and finish with a total of 307.32 points.

They achieved their highest scoring round with their inward 3 ½ somersaults with tuck, which racked up 72.00 points.

That was followed up with a score of 69.12 points for their final dive, the back 2 ½ somersaults, 1 ½ twists with pike.

The GB pairing finished 18.36 points behind the gold medallists, Kseniia Bailo and Oleksii Sereda of Ukraine. Russia finished in third to take the bronze medals.

As well as being the first medal of this competition for Great Britain, it was also a first senior European medal for Spendolini-Siriex.

The teenage diver narrowly missed out on a podium finish at the FINA Diving World Cup in Tokyo less than a week previous.

On their achievement, Williams said: “It means a lot to come away with a medal.

“The main reason we chose to do the event was to settle some nerves as it’s been over a year since my last competition, so it’s been an opportunity to get used to the adrenalin and the pool at the start of the week.”

Spendolini-Sirieix added: “Coming here I was exhausted from the World Cup with jet lag and everything but I’m so happy we started with mixed synchro.

“Noah’s a great synchro partner and it was literally our first time doing optionals together, but it was such a great icebreaker and way to start my competition ahead of the individuals on Thursday.”

No medal for Torrance… yet

In the Women’s 1m springboard final, Katherine Torrance was unable to finish in a medal position.

Despite an impressive start, a disappointing third dive resulted in a lower score than she would have hoped for.

A total of 232.50 points saw Torrance finish in ninth place, but she will have another shot at a medal in this competition as she returns on the final day of diving action alongside Grace Reid in the Women’s 3m Synchro final.

Yasmin Harper also competed in the 1m preliminary round but missed out on a place in the final.