Milo French is ready to make a splash in 2023

Milo French is determined to finally banish his injury demons by making a significant splash during a bumper 2023 of diving.

The Verwood athlete has endured a whole host of setbacks to slightly dampen the excitement which came from his 2019 triumph at the CAMO International in Montreal.

But, after a gruelling period of hard work in the gym ahead of the British Senior Championships at the start of next year, French is confident he is back on track.

The 17-year-old, who is a member of Aldi's Rising Stars programme, an initiative that supports 20 young athletes by providing a financial award to help with training and competition costs, while also delivering personal development opportunities to many athletes through workshop sessions, said: "Hopefully moving forward I'll be getting back into training, because it's back in season now after summer.

"I'll hopefully just get training done, get my harder dives done so I'm more confident coming into that competition and can qualify for some bigger competitions after that."

The British Championships could allow French to build on the three podium finishes he has achieved at the Junior Elite Championships.

Two second places in 2019 in the Boys B platform and 3m respectively were followed up by a top three place in the 1m springboard in October last year.

The south coast star also secured a fourth-place result in the European Junior Championships three years ago.

French has his sights set on representing Team GB at the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris but revealed he is keen to pursue opportunities abroad should that plan fail to come to fruition.

"I'm aiming for the 2024 Olympics but if that doesn’t go to plan, I'll move to America," he added.

"I'm looking at a few universities there and I know quite a few people that have gone there and said it's amazing and have had a great time, made new friends and had great experiences.

"So, I think it's quite a cool plan."

French, who as an Aldi Rising Stars athlete, will receive financial support through Aldi as well as a monthly food voucher to fuel him through training, competitions and hopefully onto future Olympic Games, added: "I was hoping to get SportsAid funding again but wasn't sure because lockdown happened and then when I found out I also had the athlete sponsorship I was very happy.

"The voucher Aldi have given me to go and buy fruit and veg every month is really helpful.

“It makes it cheaper and so I’m able to go and buy stuff without spending as much money so I can keep healthier for cheaper.

“That’s been really useful.”

Aldi is the Official Supermarket Partner of Team GB and ParalympicsGB and have partnered with Team GB since 2015, ParalympicsGB since 2022 and will be supporting them through to Paris 2024.

Sportsbeat 2022