Laugher and Mears defend Gold Coast 3m synchro title

Laugher and Mears have successfully defended their title in the men’s synchronised 3m springboard event at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

The current Olympic champions finished more than 20 points clear of the rest of the field with a score of 436.17.

Their forward two and a half somersault with three twists was the hardest dive of the competition and scored them a huge 92.43.

Canada’s Phillippe Gagne and Francois Imbeau-Dulac scored 415.23 to take silver while Domonic Bedggood and Matthew Carter from Australia finished in third with 408.12 points.

Laugher, who now has three gold medals having won the 1m and 3m springboard earlier in the week, said: “It was a fantastic performance and one of the best Commonwealth synchro finals I have seen. There were some amazing performances from the Aussies and the Canadians.

“It was really difficult to come out here as champions already and defend that title. My heart was pumping because I didn’t want to let down Chris.

“We absolutely nailed it, fantastic score for the first one of the season, we’re really proud of what we have done and we’re really happy.

“Three Commonwealth gold medals, a hat trick, is unbelievable.”

Kim White, Team England Diving Team Leader said: “It was great for Jack to get his third gold of these Games, and to add to his two golds from 2014. I’m so pleased for him and his synchro partner Chris Mears, they performed the best dive of the meet scoring over 90 points.”

It means a huge amount

Mears said: “It means a huge amount. It’s always a pleasure to stand next to my best mate and compete.

“I’m happy for Jack, I’ll just take the gold. One event, one gold is pretty good.”

City of Sheffield brothers Jack and Ross Haslam scored 395.31 and finished in fifth position.

Jack said: “It’s our first Commonwealth Games for both of us. I think personally I have struggled with the occasion but Ross helped me through it today. We did do some great dives, just a couple of little drops in there that just took the medal away from us.

“It’s a learning experience, we’ve had a great time out here.”

Ross added: “At the start of the year our goal was to get to the Commonwealth Games individually. When we found out we were doing it together that was an amazing thing.

“To be able to compete on a stage such as this it’s been amazing.

“It’s been amazing to share an apartment with Jack and Chris. It’s nice to have friends like them as well as being able to look up to them.”

Torrance and Blagg in the pool again

Earlier in the day, Katherine Torrance and Alicia Blagg dived in the women’s 1m springboard final. 19-year-old Torrance finished fifth with a score of 237.50. After making two mistakes Blagg secured 228.55 points to finish seventh.

Scotland’s Grace Reid took the title with 275.30 points while Australia’s Georgia Sheehan finished second (264.00) with her teammate Esther Quin finished in third (252.95).