The Leeds diving squad proved themselves simply the best with a phenomenal performance at the British Championships last weekend. The City of Leeds squad achieved unprecedented levels of success by dominating the event held at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge to find the finest divers in Britain.
The squad, who are part of Leeds City Council’s Diving Training Scheme based at the Aquatics Centre at the John Charles Centre for Sport in Leeds, took half of the available gold medals with a stunning 13 personal bests achieved in the process to leave the field including divers who have competed at Olympic level trailing in their wake.
City of Leeds now boasts five national champions as Charles Calvert (3m Men’s Springboard), Rebecca Gallantree (1m and 3m Women’s springboard), Sarah Barrow (10m Women’s Platform) and the Galashan twins Helen and Carol (10m Women’s Synchronised Platform) all took gold in their events. As a result of their efforts, Charles, Rebecca and Sarah have all qualified for the World Championships which take place in Rome in July, while the Galashan twins, who have only been training as divers for two years, will also have the chance to join them.
Leeds divers also gained three bronze medals at senior level, while the women’s team claimed the team title for a seventh consecutive year. Two Leeds juniors showed themselves to be major talents for the future with fantastic performances in the 3m women’s springboard event. Despite competing against a full line-up of Britain’s best senior-level divers, 13-year-old Hannah Starling and 12-year-old Alicia Blagg claimed superb fourth and fifth-place finishes overall. Hannah’s efforts particularly caught the eye of Britain’s new National Performance Director Alexei Evangulov, as he has now selected the Alwoodley diver to take part in the Senior European Championships which take place in Turin in April. The amazing level of Leeds’ success continued at junior level, with a host of medals won in the 12-18 age groups to delight Senior Diving Coach Adrian Hinchliffe and Age Group Coach Edwin Jongejans, who is himself a former world champion.
Leeds City Council’s Leeds Diving Training Scheme is managed by Adrian Hinchliffe and has been running since 1986. The scheme provides opportunities in the sport of diving for all ages and from recreational to elite level. In total there are over 300 people taking part in the scheme on a daily and weekly basis, making it one of the biggest diving programmes in Britain.
For further information about the scheme contact Adrian Hinchliffe at Adrian.hinchliffe@leeds.gov.uk, Edwin Jongejans at Edwin.jongejans@leeds.gov.uk or call 0113 395 736
Link: BBC news video