Parkside Pools in central Cambridge was host to the annual Cambridge Dive Team Club Novice competition where divers competed a range of skills across the different boards. This home-event is a great opportunity for athletes to show families their progress and try out some new skills in a relaxed atmosphere before competing them in other venues.
The first event of the evening was the mixed Group E event in which 8 divers took part. Here, some of the club’s youngest squad divers made a strong showing, with the top 5 separated by just over 10 points in a competitive event. Raymond Hu took the third place spot after performing some lovely dives from the poolside and 1m board, with Digby Bord taking the silver medal by just 0.55 points. It was Yeva Tsymbal who took the gold medal after performing consistently throughout the event, putting in some impressive dives and impressing the judges.
Next up was the Group D event in which Kirsty Matthams stormed ahead of the pack winning by a massive 29 points. Kirsty performed a range of dives, some with higher degrees of difficulty than the other divers, and managed to stay composed to achieve high scores. Melodie Meeds took the silver medal beating team-mate Emilia Wright by just 0.20 points in what was a close event for the second and third place spots throughout.
The final competition of the evening was the Group B event, in which four divers took part. Here, athletes has to perform a harder set of dives from the 1m and 3m boards, incorporating a larger number of twists and turns. William Tibbatts held his nerve and took the gold medal by some margin, with Jack Halls finishing in second place after also putting in some good dives across both boards. Yuting Wang took the bronze medal with team-mate Eva Tsang joining them on the podium as a guest.
