By Tom Degun

Tom_Daley_with_Pete_Waterfield_Sheffield_April_15_2011April 16 - Tom Daley and Pete Waterfield laid down a clear marker for the London 2012 Olympic Games as the duo stormed to gold in the 10 metre synchro event at in the FINA Diving World Series in Sheffield.


In only their second international competition together, the British duo held off five of the world's top pairs to claim victory with 449.43 points.

China's World Cup champions Yuan Cao and Yanquang Zhang won silver with 443.82 while bronze went to Sascha Klein and Patrick Hausding of Germany with a total of 427.59.

"We are so happy to have won that gold in only our second international competition," said 17-year-old Daley.

"It is great to see that our partnership is improving every time we compete.

"Our hardest dive, the Front 4 ½, was one of the best that we have done.

"We are lucky we have natural timing but we missed our first two optional dives and we want to improve that a lot."

Waterfield added: "We are going to Mexico and the World Championships next.

"It is a new partnership but we seem to be working well together.

"The four-and-a-half is our newest dive but it saved us today so we are both glad that we are using."

Daley and Waterfield performed lay in fourth place after the first two rounds and as the competition entered the optional dives, the pair held their nerve to perform consistently.

Their front somersaults tucked dive scored highly to move into the lead ahead of the Cao and Zhang with one round to go and the Brits scored 92.88 on their final dive, the back somersaults and twists piked, to secure victory.

Tom_Daley_and_Peter_Waterfield_with_gold_medal_Sheffield_April_15_2011
Daley later missed out on collecting his second medal of the competition as he finished fourth in the 10m individual platform event.

Qui Bo of China took victory with a score of 586.55 to pick up his third World Series title in a row.

Bo's countryman and 10m synchro Olympic champion Liang Huo secured silver with a score of 567.10 while the United States' David Boudia was third with 534.55 points to pip Daley to the bronze.

"The way the Chinese are diving they are so far ahead of everyone at the moment, they are like machines, they are definitely the ones to watch ahead of London 2012," said Daley, world champion in the event.

"It's a great experience to have everyone supporting me here, it's a sell-out crowd, and I hope it will be the same in London, it really lifts you and makes you dive to the best of your ability.

"The new dives are coming on, I just have to keep working hard and try my best and put as much pressure on the Chinese as I can because they are so far ahead of everyone else at the moment."

Waterfield went out in the semi-finals of the event after being kept late by drugs-testers after the synchro event but he did not use it as an excuse for his exit at the semi-final stage.

"I felt pretty good it just didn't come off today," he said.

"I did have to stay late, I wasn't in bed until after 11 and I didn't have any dinner, but it's one of those things that happens, it's the same for everyone."

"Off the board my jumping and getting into shape felt good, but I'm just not getting the ends in, which is where it counts."

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