Diving - Tom Daley targets Tokyo Olympics after claiming European Championship gold with Matty Lee
BySportsbeat
Updated 15/05/2021 at 20:42 GMT
Tom Daley turned his attention to the Tokyo Olympics after delivering a superb display alongside Matty Lee to clinch Great Britain's first gold of the European Championships. The duo won the men's 10m synchronised title in Budapest ahead of Russia and Germany. "I'm absolutely delighted and that's the first time I've won a synchro gold medal at the European Championships," said Daley.
Gold medallists Great Britain's Matthew Lee (L) and Great Britain's Thomas Daley pose on the podium after the Men's Synchronised 10m Platform Diving event
Image credit: Getty Images
Tom Daley turned his attention to the Tokyo Olympics after delivering a superb display alongside Matty Lee to clinch Great Britain's first gold of the European Championships.
The recently-crowned Diving World Cup champions continued their hot streak by landing the men's 10m synchronised title in Budapest ahead of Russia and Germany.
Following their World Cup success in Japan two weeks ago, Daley and Lee reunited to produce a 477.57 personal best score as they led the way from the first dive to the last.
And after being crowned European champion, Daley turned his attention to what the duo can do in Tokyo.
"I'm absolutely delighted and that's the first time I've won a synchro gold medal at the European Championships," said Daley, a two-time Olympic bronze medallist.
"I think we were five points higher than our previous personal best at the London World Series, so I'm just really happy.
Our last dive wasn't the best we could have done it, so there's still room for improvement and we've got eight or nine weeks until we compete at the Olympics."
Daley and Lee first teamed up in 2018 before winning a bronze medal together at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju - and Lee relished every moment of the European final.
"I feel really, really good," said the 23-year-old. "The whole lockdown situation made me really miss competing and I feel like I learnt why I love doing the sport.
"I'm now trying to embrace it all I can, enjoy it and just working really hard, and it's all paying off. I'm just really happy with where I'm at.
"It means so much to win this title and I'm very, very happy with it. There's room for improvement still, even with a PB, but I'm just happy with how the World Cup went and now the European Championships."
Daley and Lee opened their competition by executing two strong required dives before moving through the gears as they hit their optionals to lead at the halfway mark.
A stunning Back 3 ½ Somersaults Pike (207B) was then rewarded with 97.20 points but Russian pair, Aleksandr Bondar and Viktor Minibaev, responded with a 92.82 dive.
But with the pressure on, Daley and Lee held their nerve to deliver another dive that scored in excess of 90 points to clinch European Championship gold.
Elsewhere, Scarlett Mew-Jensen was the only Brit in action in the Women's 3m Springboard final and finished in eighth place overall following her seventh-place finish at the World Cup.
She said: "It's such a privilege to be here, especially with the times we've had with coronavirus, and I'm going to take many, many positives away from this.
"Obviously there were some misses in there, but I'm excited to get back to training and work on them. Having the atmosphere again has been amazing."
Don't miss a moment of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (Jul 23-Aug 8, 2021). Stream the latest video highlights and follow all of the top Olympic news with Eurosport.
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement