A group of 22 English divers been named on the British Diving World Class Programme for the 2019/2020 season, in a significant boost heading into an Olympic year, of which 9 are from clubs in the North East .

City of Leeds Daniel Goodfellow, Jack Laugher, Katherine Torrance and Lois Toulson are on the Podium Programme and are expected to challenge for medals at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

In addition, City of Leeds Phoebe Banks and Anthony Harding and City of Sheffield’s Yasmin Harper, Ross Haslam and Jordan Houlden are on the Podium Potential Programme.

A total of 25 athletes will receive financial assistance from UK Sport, as well as training and competition opportunities over the next year.

They will be supported by British Diving’s performance staff as they compete on the domestic and international stages.

British Diving National Performance Director, Alexei Evangulov, said: “This year, the British Diving team participated in 11 senior and three junior events, each marked by great performances shown individually and as a team.

British divers brought home medals from every single competition, which shows that the quality of diving in this country has risen and I’m absolutely delighted by the strength and depth of divers selected onto the programme as we go into the most important year of the quadrennial – the Olympic year.

These performances have created a brilliant platform on which to build forward through 2020, as we ensure the support of our athletes’ needs is in place to retain Great Britain’s standing as one of the top diving nations in the world.”

The North East Region would like to congratulate all of the divers from within the region on their selection onto the programme for the 2019/2020 season.

The full list of athletes selected onto the programme can be found here.