Yasmin Harper and Ross Haslam turn British Diving Championship success into GB call-ups

The 22-year-old City of Sheffield diver won a hat-trick of titles at the British Championships at Ponds Forge last week to force her way into the 11-strong Great Britain squad for July’s World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoko, Japan.

Harper won the 1m springboard and 3m synchro in the space of one afternoon last Friday and then returned on Monday, the final day of competition, to win the 3m springboard.

“It's been busy, and Monday wasn’t the smoothest of days,” she said.

"I would have really liked if I could have put all of my dives down - I missed my front 3.5 in the third round but I've come away with the gold medal so I'm really pleased with that.

“I think when you're diving on these long days it important to get your fuelling right, make sure you are eating enough and you know get that little bit of down time in between prelim and finals just so you can reset your mind as well.”

Nevertheless, it was enough to secure her a spot on the GB squad for a second world championships, having finished 15th in the 1m and 25th in the 3m in Budapest last season.

She is joined in Japan by Yorkshire’s Olympic champions Jack Laugher and Matty Lee, City of Leeds divers Lois Toulson, Dan Goodfellow and Anthony Harding, and her Sheffield clubmate Jordan Houlden – the fact that seven of the 11 British divers are from, or trained in, Yorkshire emphasising the county’s strength in the pool.

Another Sheffield diver, Ross Haslam, enjoyed a strong British Championships at Ponds Forge, putting an injury-plagued period behind him to win gold in the 1m springboard and 3m synchro.

Such is the strength in British springboard diving with Laugher, Houlden and Harding, Haslam has been unable to force his way onto the world championship squad, but the 25-year-old has been selected for the European Games in Poland later this month. That 14-strong squad also includes his City of Sheffield team-mates Maisie Bond and Holly May Prasanto.