The Southampton diver, who has been fighting an ear infection through the week, gave a promising performance in the semi final with a score of 462.90.

In the final Waterfield was beginning to find his form with excellent scores in his first three dives and found himself once again in the top six.

But with a missed dive in the fifth round he slipped down to 10th place, finishing with a total score of 419.70.

Waterfield has also suffered the disappointment of his platform synchro partner Leon Taylor pulling out of the championships with an unfortunate back injury.

But he is looking forward to the World Cup in Beijing next year, where he is hopeful of a stronger performance.

"I am obviously disappointed with the final," said Waterfield.

"But our preparation has not been great both in the UK and over here. I have also been suffering from a thumb injury all year and so I was really happy to take part in the event.

"It would have been great to have won a medal, but my aim was to qualify Britain for the Olympics and I succeeded in doing that.

"My training is now going well and I am beginning to find my form, I am looking forward to the rest of my year and obviously I have hopes of strong performances in the run up to the Olympics."

"It has been a real disappointment for both me and Leon missing the 10m platform synchro event, it is my favourite event.

"But injuries never come at a good time and we have both had some nasty ones in the past year.

"But with the World Cup coming up in 2008 we will both be looking to qualify for the Olympics and have some good training sessions together."

Elsewhere, City of Leeds Tandi Gerrard battled hard in the women's 3m springboard semi final, but finished a disappointing 16th with a score of 272.00, and did not make the final.