Scottish National Diving Championships inc. the British Diving Cup 2023 Review
Plymouth divers; Amelie Underwood, Euan McCabe, Archie Waines and Ollie Heath were in action representing Plymouth Diving at the Scottish National Diving Championships incorporating the British National Cup, which was held in Edinburgh last weekend. The competition encompassed talented divers across the United Kingdom for juniors and seniors with guest divers from Czechia, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Jamaica and New Zealand. With qualification for the Doha World Championships and consideration for the Paris Olympics at stake, this was a seriously contested event with all of the big names in diving present.
First up was Amelie on the 1m board. Finishing in fourth place overall in the final earnt her a silver junior medal. Amelie went one better on the 3m board to secure herself a gold junior medal. Increasing her preliminary scores on both boards meant that she was a strong contender in the finals.
The men’s 1m and 3m events saw Ollie and Archie up against Olympians such as Jack Laugher. Ollie qualified for both finals beating his personal best scores to do so. He finished sixth out of the juniors on 1m. Ending with a superb reverse 1 ½ somersaults with 2 ½ twists on 3m earnt Ollie a bronze junior medal.
With less exposure at this level than the other Plymouth divers, Archie finished in seventh place in the preliminary round in both of the springboard competitions. Gaining valuable experience and the opportunity to dive against the best of the best.
Euan only returned to the platform last month, after a long spell away from it to focus on springboard. The preliminary round saw Euan finish in second place overall and a whopping 62.8 points ahead of his nearest junior rival. In the final Euan continued to execute a steady and confident set of dives. Pushing his scores for a reverse 3 ½ somersaults and his forward 4 ½ somersault into the eighties. He finished in fourth place overall and won a silver junior medal, only 2.5 points off the gold junior medal.
All of the divers are supported by Pilkington Estates and coached by Sally Freeman at the Plymouth Life Centre where Plymouth Active Leisure offer a superb diving programme.
