Medals and 'invaluable experience' for English divers at Junior America's Cup

Eight of Swim England’s divers came away with some ‘invaluable experiences’ at the Junior America’s Diving Cup.

The young athletes headed to Mission Viejo, California for the four day competition from Thursday 23 to Sunday 26 May.

The inaugural junior event is the equivalent of the senior America’s Cup – which has hosted some of Great Britain’s and the worlds top divers in the past – allowing the athletes to take on their counterparts from across the globe.

Divers aged between 12-18 took part in the competition with Swim England’s team made up of a number of those that are currently a part of the national governing bodies Team Y squad.

The trip was full of strong performances and personal bests as the young group came home with three medals from the four day competition.

Two of those were won by Sheffield Diving’s Robbie Wood, who continued his fine medal form. He added to his double at the 8 Nations Diving Cup with two bronze medals in the Group B Boys 1m and 3m Springboard events. He also placed fourth in the Platform final where he narrowly missed out on making it three from three.

Elsewhere, Daisy Lindsay and Alice Billton teamed up for silver in the Group A/B Girls Synchronised Platform.

Lindsay – also from Sheffield Diving – and Southend’s Billton scored 239.88 from their list to finish in second spot behind Australia’s Maggie Grey and Kayla Davies.

Each of the divers impressed throughout the week with Amy Wright and Connor Lano amongst those to just miss out on silverware, finishing fourth and fifth respectively in the Group A Girls 1m and Group A Boys 3m events.

Reflecting on the trip, Swim England Diving Programme Lead, Connie Ford, was proud of each of the English athletes performances and their professionalism throughout the competition.

She said: “The divers went through a large amount of planning and preparation for the competitions this week.

“They showed professionalism and determination, worked extremely hard and have been able to come away with some invaluable experiences that they will be able to reflect on and utilise in their future.”

You can find the full results from the Junior Americas Diving Cup here and you can watch back the action on YouTube. The results from each of the English athletes can be found below.