A total of 22 competitors from the North East Region joined some of the top divers in the UK for the prestigious British Diving Championships in Plymouth, over the weekend. It was a talent-packed event, with our athletes competing against Olympians such as Grace Reid and including Daniel Goodfellow, Katherine Torrance and Lois Toulson from Leeds, as well as Sheffield’s Commonwealth Games diver Ross Haslam. At the end of a fantastic weekend’s competition, the region came away with a total of 13 medals, which included 4 national titles.
The first day saw a top two for the North East Region on the podium in the Men’s 1m event. Anthony Harding of Leeds and Jordan Houlden of Sheffield were placed 1st and 2nd respectively after the preliminaries, but in the final the places were reversed and it was Houlden who took the gold medal and title, improving his score by 59 points with the help of an impressive inward 2½ somersaults in tuck scoring 71.30 points, with Harding taking the silver. In the Women’s 1 m competition, Sheffield’s Yasmin Harper and Richelle Houlden and Leeds’ Holly Waxman and Callie Eaglestone came 1st, 2nd, 4th and 7th in the preliminaries. Houlden went on to take bronze while Harper won gold and the second national title for the North East.
The end of the day saw the North East complete a clean sweep of titles. In the Men’s 3m synchro, earlier rivals Jordan Houlden and Anthony Harding joined forces in hopes of retaining their title from 2019. They were spectacularly successful, coming over 48 points ahead of their nearest competitors. It was a much closer call in the Women’s 10m synchro. In a fierce contest, the gold was won by Lois Toulson of Leeds and her diving partner Eden Cheung of Crystal Palace, by a winning margin of just 0.96 points.
Day 2 began with nine divers from the region competing in the Men’s 3m contest. Leeds’ Anthony Harding and Daniel Goodfellow went through to the finals, along with Ross Haslam of Sheffield. With the help of an eye-catching forward 2½ somersaults 3 twists, scoring 89.70, Goodfellow won the silver medal and Haslam, also impressive with a reverse 1½ somersaults 3½ twists that scored 87.30, took the bronze. In the Women’s Platform event, four NER divers from seven got through to the finals and it was Lois Toulson of Leeds who came away with the silver medal, impressing the judges with her armstand back double somersault with 1½ twists scoring 67.20. Special mention should go to Sheffield’s Maisie Bond.  At 12 years old, the youngest competitor in the tournament came in 5th overall, including scoring a 9 from one judge for her reverse 2½ somersaults in tuck from 10m, but was ineligible for the finals because she did not perform a full list of dives exclusively from 10m. One to watch out for in the future.
Further medals came at the end of the day, in the Women’s 3m synchro competition. Callie Eaglestone of Leeds, with her diving partner Evie Smith from Crystal Palace, won the bronze medal with a score of 231.51. Leeds teammate Holly Waxman, diving with Amy Rollinson of Luton, took silver, scoring 240.18. Again, the North east Region had won at least one medal in each event of the day.
The third and final day of the championships saw three NER divers take part in the Men’s Platform event, with Harrison Hartley of Sheffield going through to claim 7th place in the final. In the Women’s 3m contest, six of our divers competed, with Katherine Torrance and Yasmin Harper going through and coming 4th and 5th respectively. The region’s last medal was silver and was won by Leeds’ Joe Stocking, diving with Angus Menhuir of Edinburgh in the Men’s 10m synchro competition, scoring 290.94.
With a final tally of four golds, five silvers and 3 bronze medals over the three days, divers from the North East Region can feel that they have acquitted themselves extremely well and showed that they are a force to be reckoned with across the country. Well done to all involved.
