Andrea claims first solo international gold as British team taste success in Rostock

Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix claimed her first solo international gold medal during a successful weekend for British divers at the FINA Diving Grand Prix.

The 15-year-old continued her impressive recent form by topping the podium in the Women’s Platform event at Rostock – one of five medals won by the British team during the competition.

Lucas Thomson and Gemma McArthur took top spot in the Mixed Synchro Platform, while James Heatly struck gold in the Men’s 3m Springboard.

The Women’s 3m Springboard pair of Scarlett Mew Jensen and Maria Papworth won bronze, while Matthew Dixon also finished third in the Men’s Platform.

However, it was the performance of Spendolini-Sirieix that stood out as she held her nerve to seal the the title by the narrow margin of 1.15 points with an impressive last dive.

Spendolini-Sirieix, who recently won her maiden British title in the Women’s 10m Platform at the British National Diving Championships, finished on a total of 330.50 to beat Canada’s Celina Toth, who scored 329.35.

McArthur was just outside the medals as she finished in fourth spot on 303.15 points.

However, McArthur did have plenty to celebrate in the Mixed Synchro as she and Thomson triumphed.

The duo were victorious by 12.72 points from Germany’s Naomi Hinzmann and Alexander Lube after scoring 286.98.

Near misses for synchro pairs

Heatly was also a convincing winner in the Men’s 3m Springboard after finishing on 424.25.

That left him 13.35 clear of America’s Michael Hixon, who took the silver medal with a total of 410.90.

In the Women’s 3m Synchro competition, Mew Jensen and Papworth’s score of 275.10 was enough to earn them third spot in the Women’s 3m Springboard.

Papworth also finished fourth in the individual 3m Springboard event with a score of 292.95.

Dixon’s bronze in the Men’s Platform completed the British medal haul at Rostock.

He scored 420.95 to finish behind Russia’s Ruslan Ternovoi (477.85) and Canada’s Ethan Pitman (465.90).

Meanwhile, there were near misses for Thomson and Ben Cutmore, Jordan Houlden and Anthony Harding, Ross Haslam and Yasmin Harper plus Emily Martin and Phoebe Banks in four synchro events.

Houlden and Harding took fourth spot in the Men’s 3m Synchro after finishing on 368.58, while Thomson and Cutmore claimed the same position in the Men’s Platform with a total of 366.45.

Haslam and Harper’s score of 266.61 in the Mixed 3m Synchro saw them finish just outside the medals, while Martin and Banks were also denied a podium place in the Women’s Synchro Platform on 256.26 points.

Photo: British Swimming Twitter