This weekend, an eight-strong team of Plymouth Divers took part in the British Junior Elite Championships, which doubles up not only as the highest level of national competition for this cadre of divers, but also as the selection trial for the Junior European Championships this June in Greece.
Plymouth’s youngest female athlete at the competition, Isla Applin, qualified comfortably for the Group C girls 1m final, winning a prize for the highest scoring required dives. In the final, Isla finished 4th with an impressive score of 268.1, less than 4 points away from the bronze medal position. On 3m however, coming third in both her preliminary and final resulted in an individual bronze medal.
Harry Westbury was competing in his first ever British Junior Elites, but made an instant impact in the Boys Group C competition. His weekend began with a bronze medal on 3m, with just 2.15 points separating the British medallists. On 1m, Harry not only qualified in 1st position but put together a masterclass of a final performance, with 7s on every dive, earning him his first Junior Elite gold with a huge score of 300.55!
In the Group A Boys 1m, both Plymouth participants – Ollie Heath and Archie Waines – qualified comfortably in 2nd and 5th place for the final in a crowded prelim of 21 divers. Ollie came tantalisingly close to a bronze medal, finishing just one-tenth of a point behind Southend’s Todd Geggus, despite an accomplished performance in the final.
The same pair also competed in the 3m Group A Boys competition, joined by Noah Underwood. Ollie qualified in 7th, but climbed up to 6th in the final standings thanks to two 60+ point dives.
On the platform, Noah qualified in 8th for the final but saved his best for the last round of the final, a back 2 ½ somersaults with 1 ½ twists from 10 metres which wowed the judges for 8s and 8.5s, scoring a whopping 78.4 points and moving up into 6th place. It was also a personal best score on this dive list for Noah, who was competing in Group A for the first time this year.
Scarlett Colbourne, Lexi Davies and Amelie Underwood were Plymouth’s most senior female divers at this event and in the Group A Girls 1m, consisting of 27 divers (including 5 international guests), Lexi, competing in her first Junior Elites, finished in 18th while Scarlett narrowly missed out on the final in 10th place. Amelie qualified as the top British diver and followed this up with a solidly consistent final performance to win 1m gold.
The same divers also competed in the 3m event. After a gruelling 2hr 30 preliminary, it was Lexi who just missed out on qualification in 11th place but improved significantly on her 1m score and beating her PB by 46 points. Amelie and Scarlett qualified in 1st and 3rd place, setting up a thrilling 3m finale which became a battle for 1st place between Amelie and Scarlett. Amelie showed her experience to take home her 2nd gold medal of the weekend, while Scarlett took a well-deserved silver medal, after producing one of her best ever performances.
The weekend also saw some Plymouth pairings take to the boards in the 3m synchro competitions. Amelie Underwood teamed up with London’s Caitlin Coster and won 16-18 Girls silver in a tight event where fewer than 5 points separated the podium places. Scarlett Colbourne and Lexi Davies were not far behind the medal action in 4th with a consistent performance and another PB score. In the Boys 16-18 3m synchro, Archie Waines and Ollie Heath teamed up and emerged victorious in a close battle for the silver medal thanks to a cracking 60-point final dive.
Rounding off the synchro medals was Isla Applin who joined up with Southampton’s Ella Swete to finish third, earning Isla a second bronze medal of the weekend.
Congratulations to the Plymouth Junior Elite squad for all of their efforts and achievements over the weekend, and a massive thank you to Junior Elite coaches Sally Freeman and Fito Gutierrez for nurturing and developing these talented divers, as well as to the judges, officials and volunteers who made the event run smoothly.
