Success at Armada Cup

Divers made the long journey on the Friday morning, giving themselves time for an important training session the day before the events kicked off. The conditions during the week prior to the competition were less than ideal for the Cambridge divers, as the stairs for the 3m and 5m board where being replaced. This meant they were unable to train these boards in the important days leading up to the competition. The large medal haul is a testament to the continuous hard work of the club’s divers.

First up on Saturday was Daisy Halls in the Girls Group A 1m. Daisy started the competition flying with judges awarding her an 8 for her inward dive pike. This set the pace for the talented 15-year-old, and she remained consistent throughout the long event, finishing 3^rd in the preliminary. Later in the finals, Daisy showed her flare for the 1m board, improving on her earlier scores to move up to a silver medal! Simultaneously, Amelia Aldridge and Zia Gordon where up in the Girls B 1m event. This was the longest event of the weekend with 29 divers. Amelia showed why she was a triple finalist this time last year, coming third in the prelim and later 5^th in the final. Zia also dived impressively, competing a fantastic new dive – a back one and a half and finished 12^th, qualifying for National Age Groups later in the summer. Daisy just missed on a final in both 3m and platform, finishing 8^th in both. Amelia finished 15^th on 3m and 14^th on Platform while Zia finished 19^th on 3m and 15^th on Platform.

Meanwhile Rufus Bord started his campaign with his first Group B event and on the 3m, he came 3^rd in the prelim and 4^th in the final, narrowly missing out on a medal. Day 2 saw Rufus come back hungry for more and in the 1m competition he was determined to not miss out on a medal again. Here, Rufus blew the competition away, leading throughout all 7 rounds and coming away with a fantastic gold medal. He wasn’t done just yet, smashing his platform event on day 3, showing off his clean entries, disappearing into the water on his 7.5m platform dives. While this earnt him a second place in the prelim, going into the final he had a lower difficulty than some of his competitors so needed to pull through and perform consistently. Holding his nerve, Rufus returned with form in the final, scoring 8’s on his reverse dive from the 7.5m, earning a brilliant silver medal.

Charlie Tibbatts also had a successful meet, starting the competition brilliantly with a 4^th place in the Boys Group C 3m preliminary. He upped his game in the final, moving up the ranks into 3^rd place and earning himself a bronze medal. In his next competition, the 1m springboard, Charlie was once again consistent, finishing 5^th in both the prelim and final. It wasn’t over yet, as the last competition was the platform event, where he dived superbly to earn himself a spot in the final once again. Smashing his personal best during the prelims, Charlie scored 8’s on his back dive pike and 7’s consistently, putting him in first place ahead of the final. After a long weekend of diving, Charlie was understandably tired, and a few mistakes in the final looked to push him out of the medals. However, Charlie showed his composure and fantastic twisting ability with his final dive, a back one and a half somersaults with a half twist on 5m scoring over 44 points, earning him a brilliant bronze medal.

Tobi Fayomi was on the only diver to not have an event on Day 1 but nevertheless brought energy through support, watching all events her teammates were in and cheering them on. On Sunday, it was her turn to receive the applause, diving brilliantly in the Girls C 1m event. Going into the last round, she was tied with another diver for the top spot and both divers had the same last dive, a back one and a half tuck. Tobi didn’t let this get to her and stayed completely in the zone. She outscored the other competitor by 4 points and came away with a gold medal! The next day, Tobi showcased her abilities on the platforms and came third in the prelim, diving consistently throughout the rounds. In the final, she showed how much of a fantastic and focused competitor she was, moving up to second place! By Tuesday, Tobi had done four competitions, also finishing 12^th in synchro with fellow Cambridge diver Zia and just missing out on a final in her individual 3m event finishing 8^th.

This was the first event for many of the divers in their new age categories at the start of the competition calendar. Diving Development Officer Alice Clarke said the ‘Cambridge divers showed that they are up for the challenge with fantastic results across the board. Our athletes have qualified for National Age Groups in June and are looking ready for the rest of the season!’