Goodfellow headlines England’s five medal Commonwealth diving haul

By Nick Hope
LEN Digital Editor

• Dan Goodfellow secures 3m gold ahead of team-mate Jordan Houlden
• Jack Laugher misses out on a hattrick of titles, but takes bronze
• Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix follows 10m gold with silver alongside Eden Cheng
• English duo Robyn Birch and Emily secure 10m bronze
• Five medals for England on third day of Birmingham 2022 diving

Olympian Dan Goodfellow claimed his maiden major individual title with victory in the 3m springboard final at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Goodfellow, who won synchronised 10m bronze with Tom Daley at Rio 2016 and World 3m synchro silver alongside Jack Laugher in 2019, has focused on individual events since Tokyo 2020.

He was in fourth at the halfway through the six-round event in what was a high-qualify final and he saved his best routines for the closing stages, finishing with a total of 484.45.

“It’s been a tough year and to do this under pressure means so much,” said Goodfellow. “I’m over the moon and to do it with team-mates – you couldn’t ask for any more!”

Former synchro partner Laugher was the defending champion and favourite after winning two golds in Birmingham ahead of this final, but he struggled in the morning preliminaries.

He only just qualified for the final after a “moment of doubt” saw him performing the wrong dive at the beginning of the session.

The 27-year-old was much-improved for the final, but a mistake in the fifth round denied him a higher place on the podium. England’s Jordan Houlden (465.15) added 3m silver to his 1m bronze earlier in the event, Laugher (462.30) rounding off the English male successes.

“Going from scraping through and failing my first dive to a bronze medal is a fantastic achievement for me,” stated Laugher.

Houlden added that winning two medals in his Commonwealth debut was “”beyond belief really” and that he “couldn’t expect anymore.”

The English women also impressed with a late medal surge in the synchronised 10m platform final.

Individual 10m platform champion Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and her partner Eden Cheng were in last position after three of the five rounds, but they improved routine after routine and fought up to second with an impressive final dive.

Team-mates Robyn Birch and Emily Martin also fought back into podium contention and would claim their maiden major senior international medal together with bronze.

“To have a celebration with Eden, then see Robyn [Birch] and Emily [Martin, bronze medallists] come over and celebrate with us, it’s a really special moment,” said Spendolini-Sirieix.

“Sport is so beautiful, you compete against each other but ultimately you’re one big family. I’m really proud of everyone.”