3m Springboard silver for Jack Laugher

Jack Laugher won a silver medal last night in the Men’s 3m Springboard event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

The City of Leeds diver had been struggling to come into form during the prelim and semi-final stages. His diving had been very up and down, with both good and bad execution of his dives.

The Medal Man strikes again! @JackLaugher shows off his #Rio2016 3M Springboard #Silver. #BringOnTheGreat#TeamGBpic.twitter.com/lXuxQLcvaY

— Team GB (@TeamGB) August 16, 2016

In the final though, Laugher seemed to be a changed athlete. His first dive was a solid Forward 2 1/2 Somersaults 2 Twists which scored him eights from all judges. He was joint second after round one.

He sat comfortably in second for most of the competition, each dive progressively better than the last. In fact only one of his dives fell below 80 points.

Laugher firmly in medal contention

Laugher’s best dive was his Forward 41/2 Somersaults which received 96.90 points in round five of the final. It was not enough to pull him ahead of Chinese diver Cao Yuan, but it solidified his chances of getting the silver medal.

Laugher commented: “I always knew I could medal at these Olympic Games as my performances have been on the up since 2013 and 2014. I have been rising each year but obviously doing it is a completely different story.

“There are so many nerves, pressure and weather conditions around these Olympics, it is really hard to get on the board and do it and I showed that in the semi-final in the morning, I almost didn’t make the final.” – Jack Laugher

“I had luck on my side and I was in that final and that was when I could really let loose, there was no pressure, no nerves it was just me on the diving board and that is it.”

This is Laugher’s first individual medal of the Olympic Games in Rio.

The young star also secured a gold medal in the Men’s 3m Synchro with diving partner, Chris Mears.