Courtesy: British Swimming
British Diving has named a strong team of 13 divers who will travel to Gwangju, South Korea next month for the World Aquatics Championships.
13 Brits will make the trip to the Far East for the Championships, which get underway on Friday 12 July, with Olympic champion Jack Laugher and World Champion Tom Daley two of the star names in a very strong team.
Daley struck gold in the Men’s 10m Platform at the last edition of these championships in Budapest in 2017 and has been in fine form so far in 2019, with his best FINA Diving World Series ever, which included taking the overall series crown. The event in South Korea will also be his first major championship alongside new synchro partner Matty Lee, the pair combining to great effect so far this season.
Despite being Commonwealth, European and Olympic champion, Jack Laugher has never struck gold at a World Championships, a feat he’ll be looking to accomplish at the 2019 edition. Like Daley, Laugher also has a new synchro partner in Olympic bronze medalist Dan Goodfellow, so he’ll have two bites of the cherry in Gwangju.
Of his ambitions for the World Championships, Laugher said:
“I go into every competition I do with the goal of winning and that will be no different in Gwangju, both in the individual event and with Dan in the synchro. 2019 has been a good year so far, with my performances improving as the weeks have gone by, so I’m excited to see what we can do at the World Championships.
“We have a very strong team of divers, with Great Britain now one of the top diving nations in the world, so as a team we’ll be looking to win a number of medals and secure as many Olympic spots as we can.”
Alongside the proven championship performers there also a number of new names on the team, such as recently crowned British Champions James Heatly, Scarlett Mew Jensen and Noah Williams, that trio making their maiden World Championship appearances.
Of the team he has selected, Performance Director Alexei Evangulov added:
“I am very pleased with the selections we have made for this summer’s World Championships. 2019 has been a very successful year so far, but we need to deliver our very best performances in Gwangju when it matters most. We have a number of medal chances based on how we have been diving in the FINA Diving World Series, but securing spots for Tokyo 2020 is equally important to us – hopefully we can achieve both of these aims.”
The World Aquatics Championships begin on Friday 12th July, with the 1m events getting proceedings underway.
Great Britain Team:
Robyn Birch – 10m
Eden Cheng – 10m Synchro
Tom Daley – 10m, 10m Synchro
Daniel Goodfellow – 3m Synchro
Ross Haslam – 1m
James Heatly – 1m, 3m
Jack Laugher – 3m, 3m Synchro
Matty Lee – 10m Synchro
Scarlett Mew Jensen – 1m, 3m
Grace Reid – 3m, 3m Synchro
Katherine Torrance – 1m, 3m Syncro
Lois Toulson – 10m, 10m Synchro
Noah Williams – 10m