‘Eagle’ catches pike perfectly to leap to top of leaderboard

Veteran Olympian Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards finally earned sporting acclaim – nearly 25 years after his Olympic flop – by winging his way into the next round of new diving-inspired talent show Splash!

British ski jumper Edwards, who soared to glorious failure in the 1988 winter games, topped the ITV show’s leaderboard with a daring 10-metre dive, while bandaged-up sports presenter Charlotte Jackson won a head-to-head “splash-off” against reality TV personality Joey Essex to progress past the heat stage.

Edwards joked he had “ruined his reputation” by winning this weekend’s round with a fiendishly tricky forward one-and-a-half somersault pike, earning praise from the judges and Olympic bronze medallist and competition mentor Tom Daley.

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Jackson – who had several wardrobe malfunctions during practice sessions – performed despite suffering a double fracture in training.

She had previously been diving from the high boards, but had to be taken to hospital after breaking two bones in her toe.

American model Caprice, 41, wowed the judges with her one-and-a-half somersault tuck from the 3m springboard, scoring 24.5 from the judges. It took her to second in the leaderboard after the judges’ scores, but she was condemned to competition exit following the public vote.

Garden designer Diarmuid Gavin admitted having huge nerves before his basic but uncomfortable descent into the water. It earned him a paltry 16.5 points from the judges and he was also eliminated after the public vote.

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