Ireland’s Oliver Dingley has secured a second top ten finish at the LEN European Championships in London this evening after he finished 8th in the 3m Springboard Final. Dingley was 6th in the 1m Springboard event on Tuesday.
An opening score of 65.10 points saw Dingley 9th after the first round but 69.70 points in round 2 and his highest scored dive of 74.80 in round 3 saw him move up the rankings into 6th place. A drop to 61.50 seemed costly in the penultimate round as the 23 year old fell to 8th place, where he remained after his final dive of 71.40 points.
Speaking after this evening’s final Dingley commented “I really enjoyed competing in the European final, my consistency was great and it was great to be battling it out with so many Olympic and world medallists. This competition is the first of some very important events coming up so I’m looking forward to expanding on this result. We are looking to add some more degree of difficulty into my list going into the summer. The support from back home has been amazing so I would like to say thank you to everyone who has taken their time to support me”
Russia’s Evgenii Kuznetsovr was supreme as he led the final to take Gold in 497.90 points. The 26 year old held off Jack Laugher who became Great Britain’s first male 3M medallist since 1999 in winning Silver.
Natasha MacManus will have her first European senior experience when she takes to the 3M Springboard on Saturday morning. 18 year old MacManus made the 3M final at the European Games in Azerbaijan last summer and competed at the Diving World Cup in Rio de Janeiro in February, she will be looking to use those experiences on Saturday to make her first senior international final.
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Results:
Men 3m Oliver Dingley Prelim 404.35 (7th) Final 414.50 (8th)
Diving Schedule:
Saturday May 14th Women 3m Prelim/Final Natasha MacManus
