Jack nails another gold as Olympics beckon

Jack Laugher and Dan Goodfellow nailed the formula for Olympic gold to claim a landmark victory at the FINA Diving World Cup in Tokyo

OLYMPIC gold medallist and RGS past pupil Jack Laugher is a firm favourite for the top step of the Olympic podium this summer after claiming another gold at the Diving World Cup in Tokyo.

He and partner Dan Goodfellow won Britain's second gold at the event in May,dominating the men’s synchronised three-metre springboard final with a winning total of 440.94 points after six solid dives.

"Being able to dive in the Olympic pool, it meant a lot to us to go out there and do a good performance," said Laugher, who left Ripon Grammar School in 2013.

"There was a load of nerves. We haven't competed together for over a year, so for us it was kind of scary, but I'm really happy we got a personal best with a great performance and with our new dive list as well."

For the first time in competitive action together, the Leeds-based pair rolled out a forward 2.5 somersaults 3 twists pike. With a 3.9 degree of difficulty, it was the most complex dive attempted by any nation at the Olympic qualifying and test event. It was only attempted by Mexico at the 2019 World Championships

They scored 90.09, the best score for a single dive in the competition, to take victory by a margin of 7.02 points from Germany.

The 5156B dive was also used by Laugher and Chris Mears when they won Britain's first Olympic title in the sport at Rio 2016, the only diving gold medal that wasn't won by China.

Although reigning world champions China weren't represented at this competition, which serves as the final qualifier and is also a test event for this summer’s Olympics, Laugher and Goodfellow are being touted as strong contenders for the Olympic gold medal.

PHOTOGRAPH, top, from the Press Association