July 16, 2019

Ireland’s Tanya Watson put on an impressive showing in her debut event at the World Diving Championships in Gwangju, South Korea this morning.

It was a nervous start for the 17-year-old, who took the first two dives to settle into the competition, scoring 30.80 and 43.20. Watson then secured her highest score of the day in dive three, taking 67.20 points for an inward three and a half somersault. A high scoring 58 points for her fourth dive brought Watson to just shy of the 200 mark, with a final score of 37.80 from a forward three and a half somersault bringing her total score to 237 and 29^th place overall. The World Championships has been a huge learning experience for Watson who will now target her next opportunity for Olympic Qualification at the FINA Diving World Cup in April 2020. First up though, Watson will be back in action at the European Championships in Ukraine in three weeks-time

Oliver Dingley takes to the boards tomorrow for his main event, the 3M Springboard. The Rio 2016 Olympic finalist could secure a place for Ireland at the Tokyo 2020 Games with a place in the final; but must make his way through a preliminary round of 58 divers, with 18 progressing to the semi-final and 12 to Thursday’s final.

Speaking ahead of the event Dingley said ‘Trainings going well, everything’s been consistent, it was nice to stand on the diving board in a pressure situation on the 1M (on Friday), my take offs there were fantastic, so now I’ve got an extra 2 metres to nail those ends’

FINA World Diving & Swimming Championships, 12^th – 28^th July 2019, Gwangju, South Korea

Result Tuesday 16^th July

Women Platform Preliminary

Tanya Watson

237 points

Schedule Wednesday 17^th July

Men 3M Springboard Preliminary

Oliver Dingley

2am (Ireland)

Team:

12^th – 20^th FINA World Championships (Diving)

Athletes: Clare Cryan (National Centre Dublin), Oliver Dingley (National Centre Dublin), & Tanya Watson (Southampton Dive Academy)