Champions Matty Lee and Jack Laugher take comfort in their Commonwealth Games bronze medals

Lee scored just 56.10 on his second dive and looked in danger of missing out on a medal, before recovering to post a huge 99.90 on his final dive to ensure he would be on the podium.

The Leeds athlete, who won gold in the synchronised 10m platform with Noah Williams, has only recently returned to solo diving and was pleased with his efforts to come in behind Australia’s Cassiel Rousseau and Canada’s Rylan Wiens.

“I’m really happy with a bronze medal,” reflected Lee, who also won 10m synchro gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics alongside Tom Daley.

“I could’ve done better today, a lot of us could have done a lot better, but at one point – my second dive wasn’t very good at all – I thought I was out of it.

“Diving is unpredictable, people will mess up all around, and you must be ready for that.

“I just brought myself up, just thought ‘do some good dives’ and I managed to do that.

“Not the best dives I’ve done but I’m genuinely really happy.”

Lee clawed himself back onto the podium amidst a crowded field, with five or six divers in contention for medals, only for no-one to take the competition by the scruff of the neck.

Compatriot Noah Williams, who partnered looked good for a podium after his first two dives both scored over 80, but he struggled to keep up and fell away to finish seventh.

It was better fortunes for Lee, however, who took confidence from an outstanding final dive that showed what the 24-year-old can do at his best.

“If I did a really good list all the way through and ended on a rubbish dive, I’d be fuming,” added Lee. “It’s just a psychological thing – whatever you end on, you always remember the most.

“I’m happy I’ve ended my whole Commonwealths in Birmingham on a 99 front 4 ½ somersault.”

Both Lee and Williams were roared on by the boisterous home crowd at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre, with both men receiving huge cheers each time their name was called.

For Lee, who won gold in Tokyo in front of no crowd, it is something he is still getting used to.

“That is something I’ve never experienced before,” he admitted. “It was insane.

“The amount of support for Team England athletes, and for everyone else, I love that.

“It can make you feel a bit more nervous, but it’s just about getting used to doing it back in front of a crowd.”

On Saturday night, Jack Laugher proved fallible after all.

England, and more to the point Yorkshire, swept the podium,in the men’s 3m springboard, but it was not the one-two-three many had expected as Dan Goodfellow dethroned the defending champion.

Not since Glasgow 2014 had Laugher lost a Commonwealth Games final, having already retained his 1m springboard and synchronised 3m springboard titles in Birmingham.

But after nerves almost cost him a place in the final – scoring zero on his first dive in the morning preliminaries – Laugher had to settle for bronze behind his former synchro partner and City of Leeds team-mate.

Goodfellow claimed his first individual Commonwealth Games gold ahead of City of Sheffield diver Jordan Houlden as Laugher took encouragement from the way he responded to his earlier wobble.

“It’s been a really weird day, very different to what my usual standard would be,” said the 27-year-old, who also took bronze in the same event at the Tokyo Olympic and now has nine Commonwealth medals.

“It was difficult starting off with a failed dive, but I came back, and I reset to make it through to the final. I think I did a really good job of turning it around because I feel like a year and a half ago, before the Olympics that would’ve completely ruined me and sent me into a bit of a spiral.

Laugher overcame the wobble to take the halfway lead with a third dive of 86.70.

Goodfellow and Houlden were both breathing down his neck, though, and Laugher left the door wide open with his fifth dive as a score of 53.20 cost him the chance to defend his total.

And 25-year-old Goodfellow needed no second invitation, securing his first solo major title with a total of 484.45 points to finished ahead of Houlden (465.15) and Laugher (462.30).

“It’s amazing. I can’t remember the last time there was an England 1-2-3 in diving at the Commonwealth Games,” said Goodfellow.

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