Harper and Spendolini-Sirieix secure Paris individual spots at Aquatics GB Champs

Yasmin Harper and Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix both guaranteed themselves a place in an individual event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games after a thrilling Speedo Aquatics GB Diving Championships.

Taking to the boards in Sandwell the duo both hit the required benchmark in the Women’s 3m Springboard and 10m Platform respectively to win both the national title and a place in Paris.

Both divers were already pre-selected as part of Team GB’s synchro diving pairs but they’ll now get another chance of a medal in France in individual competition.

Elsewhere Jack Laugher and Noah Williams won the two men’s individual events to put themselves in the best possible position to earn individual selection.

After an opening night of preliminary action on Thursday, it was Laugher and Spendolini-Sirieix who took the first golds of the competition at Sandwell Aquatics Centre.

Three-time Olympic medallist Laugher was the first to triumph as he broke the 500-point mark to claim British Men’s 3m Springboard gold in a thrilling contest.

Closing with 90 points for his Back 3 1/2 Somersaults Tuck, Laugher’s total of 507.20 meant he ultimately finished more than 30 points clear at the summit to put himself in strong contention to compete in the individual event that brought him Olympic medals in both Rio and Tokyo.

It was a brilliant tussle behind him with Jordan Houlden secured the British silver medal.

His final round score of 96.90 points for his Forward 4 1/2 Somersaults Tuck from the judges was the highest across the whole competition, and saw him leapfrog Dan Goodfellow into second.

In the end, Goodfellow had to settle for bronze, just behind Houlden on a total of 471.60. Ross Haslam (457.25) and Matthew Dixon (451.05) also impressed to round out the top five.

Speaking on the win Laugher said to Aquatics GB: “It was a huge final. I’m so glad to be a part of it, and it shows how strong British diving is right now – we’ve got four or five lads out there who are going toe-to-toe, and you make one little mistake and you’re out of it completely.

“Really good to be a part of”

“It was a really competitive final, a lot of big dives, a lot of big scores and just a really good experience to be a part of.

“It’s the second time over 500 points this year for me – I got 506 in Canada in the Diving World Cup, and then 507 here today, and both of them still with little mistakes here and there.

“I’m really pleased to be on the Olympic team already with Anthony, and I hope today in my final that I’ve proven myself and hopefully will be able to get that individual Olympic spot as well. It was extremely important that I gave a good performance today after yesterday not being quite my best, and I think I showed that.”

Laugher and Anthony Harding also continued their push towards their Olympic final in the synchronised event on 2nd August.

The City of Leeds duo produced a superb Forward 4 1/2 Somersaults Tuck for 86.64 to close on 421.11 points and take the British title once again.

Behind them, youngsters Hugo Thomas and Leon Baker teamed up and showed their promise for the future.

Their best dive was a Forward 3 1/2 Somersaults Pike which earnt them 71.60 on their way to silver.

A brilliant Women’s 10m Platform finale followed which saw Spendolini-Sirieix rubber-stamp her Olympic place for the individual event in Paris with another top-class display.

She ended on 363.70 points overall with an outstanding Back 2 1/2 Somersaults 1 1/2 Twists Pike earning 8.5s and nines from the judges to see her top the standings.

The score was well over the 320-point threshold as part of the selection criteria, and combined with her prelims score and the British title, made sure of that Olympic place.

The silver medal went to her synchro partner Lois Toulson who closed on 335.90 with Eden Cheng rounding out the podium with 327.75.

Reflecting on her victory, Andrea told Aquatics GB: “I’m so happy. It’s been a long road to Paris but I’m so happy to have booked those tickets and I give glory to God and I just want to thank my family, my coach and the support of the National Lottery for helping us funded athletes, and just everyone who has supported me on my journey. I just want to enjoy the summer and I can’t wait to get there.

“Honestly, I thought that final dive didn’t go as well as it did, in training it hasn’t been going as I would like it to go but again all glory to God I was just praying ‘I just need some strength, I just need some guidance’ and you know God always delivers. I was really happy and to have my family – my Mum, Ben [Cutmore], Desharne [Bent-Ashmeil] and the crowd and my coach to support me means everything.”

Spendolini-Sirieix and Toulson also won the British Women’s 10m Synchronised Platform title with a tally of 308.16 as they continued their preparation for Paris.

Harper adds individual event to her Olympic debut programme

City of Sheffield diver Yasmin Harper made sure her Olympic debut will also include an individual event with a stunning display in the Women’s 3m Springboard in Birmingham.

The World Championship finalist took control in the opening round and kept both her consistency and composure to hold off Grace Reid and claim the crown.

A stunning fourth-round Reverse 2 1/2 Somersaults Pike (305B) worth 73.50 helped Yasmin to an overall tally of 326.10, well above the finals points mark required for Olympic nomination.

“This one is special as well [as the synchro selection], it means so much to me. To be able to do it on the day and be there doing your dives, and after that knowing that I’ll be able to compete it individually at an Olympic Games is really special,” she said.

“Grace is a veteran in the event and she’s amazing, she really knows how to put the pressure on. So it was great to have her in there putting that on me and seeing how I could cope with that, so I’m really pleased. You always need that because the pressure doesn’t end, it just keeps coming, more and more!”

Behind Harper, two-time Olympian Reid won British silver to put herself in selection contention to make a third consecutive Games with Amy Rollinson just edging out her long time synchro partner Desharne Bent-Ashmeil for bronze.

They were back together however on the final day when they joined forces to win the Women’s 3m Synchronised British title.

The Dive London duo scored 266.10 to finish ahead of Maya Kutty and Tilly Brown’s final score of 232.20.

Williams closes out competition with gold

World Championship medallist Noah Williams closed out the competition with Men’s 10m Platform British gold.

The result puts him in prime position to compete in that event at Paris 2024 with Commonwealth Games medallist Kyle Kothari winning silver and Robbie Lee the bronze.

Williams recovered well from a drop in round three to claim top spot with a sensational Forward 4 1/2 Somersaults Tuck that scored one of only two 10s across the weekend and added 99.90 points towards his overall score of 473.20.

“It means a lot. The competition didn’t go too well, but sometimes that’s how it is, everyone has off days. I think that’s what today was, but managing to hold my nerve and come out on top, it means a lot to me,” said Noah – who will travel to train alongside synchro partner Daley in Los Angeles later this week – on his victory.

“I sometimes like to enjoy watching and seeing what’s going on, but after messing up my third dive, I decided I had to focus on myself, so after that, I pretty much ignored everyone else, and that seemed to work for me.

“I’m really happy. Going into this, even though I guess I had less pressure than the other boys because I’m already going to Paris in the synchro, my idea was that if I have two events, I can hopefully do well in synchro and then enjoy individual – so let’s see if that works out!”

Double World Championship finalist Kothari took the silver medal, thanks to a strong finish to his list.

After a difficult performance in the final, Kyle nailed his closing Back 2 1/2 Somersaults 2 1/2 Twist Pike (5255B) to score eights from the judges and earn 86.40 points, finishing on 408.30.

Watch back every session from this Speedo Aquatics GB Diving Championships on the Aquatics GB YouTube channel or on the BBC iPlayer.You can see all the scores on DiveRecorder.