A team of 15 divers has been selected to travel to Rio for the 2016 Olympic test event where the aim will be to qualify Great Britain’s remaining quota places for the Games this summer.
The four World Championships medallists, Tom Daley, Rebecca Gallantree, Jack Laugher and Chris Mears, all feature in the line-up as Britain’s best prepare to take on the world for the first time in 2016.
And Freddie Woodward, Georgia Ward, Katherine Torrance, Grace Reid and Lois Toulson will all make their debuts at a senior world level competition.
For World Champion Gallantree this competition is one of the vital steps for the divers as they continue preparations for Rio 2016.
“This is the final chance for Great Britain to qualify the Olympic quota which makes this one of our most important competitions of the year,” Gallantree said. “Every country will be at this event aiming to secure their place in Rio for the Olympics.
“In the 3m Synchro, three countries, China, Canada and Australia qualified their place by winning medals at the World Championships in Kazan and the fourth place is Brazil’s so there are only four places left and we have to make sure that we are in those places to ensure that we will have the spot during the Games.
“There will be a big field at the competition and we are prepared for that with the experience that Alicia [Blagg] and I have. We are going to be taking a couple of less intense days of training before building our dives back up and making sure they are sharp ready to be at our best in Rio next month.”
Woodward excelled at the British National Diving Cup in Southend as he took two gold medals in both individual springboard events and is relishing the chance to compete on the world stage.
“I’ve just had the best domestic competition of my career and to have earnt a place on the team for the World Cup feels amazing,” Woodward said.
“I felt in the form of my life in Southend and a lot stronger than I have felt previously at competitions. I wanted to demonstrate that I have improved and all my training and hard work had paid off. I am so proud that it I did that and now I am able to represent Great Britain at this level.
“The World Cup will be the biggest competition of my career and so is an incredibly exciting prospect as I’m look forward to competing against some of the world’s greatest divers. To be on the same boards with divers I’ve always looked up to will give me a lot of confidence to try and qualify that spot for my country.”
The British Diving Team consists of:
Tom Daley – Dive London
Dan Goodfellow – Plymouth Diving
Matty Lee – City of Leeds
James Denny – City of Leeds
Jack Laugher – City of Leeds
Chris Mears – City of Leeds
Freddie Woodward – City of Sheffield
Tonia Couch – Plymouth Diving
Sarah Barrow – Plymouth Diving
Lois Toulson – City of Leeds
Georgia Ward – Dive London
Katherine Torrance – City of Leeds
Alicia Blagg – City of Leeds
Grace Reid – Edinburgh Diving
Rebecca Gallantree – City of Leeds
Swimming news courtesy of British Diving.