Martin wins for Denmark
Martin Christensen was selected for his first international to represent Denmark at the Nordic games. A lot was expected from 12 year-old Martin as he was selected to compete in the boys 1 metre, 3 metre springboards and 5 metre platform. He did not disappoint and brought home three gold medals.
Martin had been very nervous before this competition and it showed very clearly in his first event on the 1 metre springboard. His first three dives were all below his normal standard and out of six divers he was last. He steadily improved and started to catch up and had moved to third place at the end of six dives and just 7 points behind the leading diver going into the final round. Martin nailed his back 1½ somersaults scoring 37.95 to total 274.50 and take the gold by the narrow margin of 2.65 points.
Moving up to the 5 metre platform Martin battled it out against six divers from Denmark, Sweden and Finland. In this event Martin had conquered his nerves and led from start to finish making a new personal best of 285.60 points, finishing 57.3 points ahead of the second place.
Martin's favourite board is 3 metre but he knew he was going to get tough competition from another Danish diver and a great diver from Sweden. Competing against these two boys in another competition earlier this year, Martin came third. However, with two gold medals already in the bag Martin was prepared to fight hard for a third. He set the scene in the first round with a very high scoring inward 1½ somersaults and then stamped his authority in the sixth round where the judges rewarded his fine back 1½ somersaults with half twist with 7s. He produced his highest scoring dive of the day in the final round where his forward 2½ somersaults scored 47.6 points and clinched the gold.
Representing Denmark at The Nordic Championships 2010 (Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark) was a fantastic experience for Martin Christensen and he impressed the national diving coaches of Sweden and Norway. As part of the Danish team Martin was coached by top Danish coach, Dennis Nybro Rasmussen, who competed in several Diving World Cups and is a former Junior World cup gold winner (1983). Dennis received instructions from Sam Buck about how to motivate and coach Martin and also information about his mental and physical state, a combination that worked well for Martin. Denmark secured a total of five gold and two silver medals which is their best result for several decades.
Martin is now back studying hard at Netherhall School who have been very supportive and understanding which has helped this very talented diver enormously.
Posted 21/12/2010.
