London 2012: Tom Daley takes gold and European title

Tom Daley recorded a personal best to win 10m platform gold at the European Diving Championships - and repeat his 2008 success at the Eindhoven venue.

The Briton was just 13 when he became European champion for the first time ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Daley achieved a mark of 565.05 in the Netherlands and thinks the score will send a message to his Chinese rivals.

"Word will spread because it's quite a high score and they will start thinking about what they can do," said Daley.

"It means so much to be European champion again with a personal best and I couldn't have asked for anything more," he told BBC Sport.

Daley's achievements on Sunday are all the more impressive given his preparations were hampered by a triceps injury.

"Training hasn't been consistent for the last week or so which was a bit annoying, but going into the competition I just had to get myself into the right mind frame," said Daley, who turns 18 on Monday.

"I did that and have to be pleased with how it's going at the moment."

The Plymouth-based diver thinks his 2012 European success will increase Olympic expectations.

"It will probably pile on a lot more pressure, but to be honest all I can do is my best and if that's not good enough there's not much I can do about it," he said. "But I'm going to try my utmost to try and get up on the podium."

Daley's victory rounded off a fantastic week for the British diving team.

They achieved their best-ever European Championships, after Tonia Couch and Sarah Barrow took gold in the 10m platform synchronised event on Wednesday.

"Historically, our performances at European Championships don't make good reading," said GB diving coach Andy Banks.

"We've never had all of our divers make finals before and some are competing in their first major international, so it bodes well, leading into London and also beyond to 2016 and the Rio Olympics."

The team will return to action at Ponds Forge in Sheffield from 8-12 June, when they compete for Olympic selection at the London 2012 trials.