New City of Sheffield diving pair snatch bronze in home international
A new synchro pairing from the City of Sheffield Diving Club showed their true potential with a medal on day two of the Aquatics GB International at their home pool of Ponds Forge.
Ross Haslam, 28, and Leon Baker, 20, both said they had room for improvement, confidently claimed bronze in the 3pm synchro, scoring 70.68 on their final dive.
After just four training sessions together, they medalled behind Spain’s pairing Max Liñan Canela and Juan Cortes and France’s gold-medal-winning Gwednal Bisch and Jules Bouyer.
Haslam said: “We’ve got more left in us, it’s a very, very new partnership and it’s exciting to see how much more we’ve got to give.”
They are both keen to keep working hard, despite also having new dives in their individual lists, and were buoyed by the vocal support of the children they have both helped coach at Sheffield diving, which Haslam said added “a little more pressure.”
Sixteen-year-old City of Sheffield diver Robbie Wood also enjoyed the home competition, saying it made a big difference to his confidence to have so much support.
Despite starting strong with an opening score of 67.20 for his back two-and-a-half somersault one-and-a-half twist, he placed sixth in the men’s 10m platform final after his third and fourth dives both scored below 40.
He performed better in the morning’s prelims, but said for so early on in the season, he is happy with his performance overall.
Wood feels that today's dives relieved some pressure ahead of tomorrow's 10m synchro with partner Jordan Fisher Eams, and said that diving with someone else is “a lot more fun and relaxed”.
City of Sheffield diver Yasmin Harper and partner Scarlett Mew Jensen withdrew from the 3m synchro competition they won bronze in in Paris, but are both set to compete for a spot in the individual final on Sunday.