The British Junior Elite Championship, a pivotal competition on the performance pathway, invites the top junior divers from across the nation to the prestigious event.
Plymouth Diving sent a team of ten, who showcased their talent, hard work, and dedication at this year’s championship, a four-day event held at Sandwell Aquatics Centre, home of the 2022 Commonwealth Games from 11th-14th April. Guided by coaches Fito Gutierrez and Sally Freeman who added “We are really pleased to have qualified a big team this year and went with high expectations of good diving as the divers have worked really hard to increase difficulty and work on consistency to try to achieve finals and medals. To come away with both of these is really rewarding”’.
The competition began with Oliver Heath and Archie Waines competing on the 1m event in the A (16-18) category. Heath and Waines both advanced to the finals later in the day, finishing in 4th and 8th place respectively with new personal bests and an impressive set of dives.
Both continued their successful performances by competing again the following day on the 3m board. They again progressed to the finals, with Heath winning the bronze medal with an impressive 504 points.
Noah Underwood, in his first Junior Elites competition in B group (14-16), competed on all three boards with morning preliminaries followed by afternoon finals over the four days, achieving 4th place on the 3m and platform, and setting a couple of personal bests.
Having joined Plymouth Diving in September, Taluyah Verwoolde enjoyed her first Junior Elites, competing as a guest for Netherlands under her club PSV Schoonspringen. Verwoolde dived in B-group girls on 1m achieving a PB, and on 3m.
Isla Applin enjoyed her debut at this level of competition in C group (9-13) girls, 1m, 3m and synchro events, diving in prelims followed by finals, and achieving a PB on 3m. Applin later partnered with Ella Swete from Southampton Diving Academy in the 9-13 age synchro event on 3m, walking away with the bronze medal.
Plymouths A-girls saw our largest field, with five divers competing in the 1m and 3m events. In a large group of 23 divers, Amelie Underwood reached finals on both boards, and continued her consistent skills to win two individual medals, bronze on 1m and a silver on 3m. Scarlett Colbourne secured herself a place on the 3m final with a beautiful set of dives and finished in 7th place with a personal best.
Team-mate Katie Martin competed on 3m and reached the final on 1m, finishing just off the podium in 4th place with a personal best. Maia Pearson and Ellie Pearce joined the Plymouth team on both 1m and 3m events, where the finals where in sight to the last dives.
The 14-18 age group synchronized diving competition was won by duo Katie Martin and Maia Pearson. They demonstrated their strong proven partnership with a final dive that secured them the gold medal, marking their last Junior Elites competition. Amelie Underwood and her partner Caitlyn Coster from Dive London also performed well, earning a bronze medal and joining Martin and Pearson on the podium.
In addition to executing their dives under pressure to the highest standard, the team displayed a real team spirit supporting each other throughout the long days.
From standout performances by individual divers to the success of synchronized teams, their achievements underscored the collective effort and dedication.
As always, thanks to the coaches Sally Freeman and Fito Gutierrez, and Plymouth Active, as well as sponsors Pilkington Estates.
