Tom Daley finishes fifth in London Diving World Series

  • Published
Media caption,

Daley admits to fear of dive

Tom Daley's "demon dive" struck again as he missed out on a medal on his competitive return to the London Aquatics Centre, finishing fifth.

He scored just 61.2 for the back two-and-a-half somersault, two-and-a-half twists from the pike position.

"I'm literally terrified of it," Daley told BBC Sport. "I'm going to see a therapist about it again, because it's almost become a bit of a phobia."

China's Jian Yang took gold in the 10m platform World Series final.

He won with a a new world record total of 616.5.

Olympic bronze medallist Daley, who trains at the Aquatics Centre, averaged 92.85 from his five other dives but messed up his second.

"My heart-rate is through the roof when I get ready to do it," he said.

Daley revealed he suffered a concussion after hitting the water hard twice during training last week and will miss next week's World Series event in Moscow as he looks to rectify his problem dive.

"We are going to keep working hard to overcome this issue," Daley's coach Jane Figueiredo told BBC Sport.

"I want him to show more love towards it and not think of it as the 'demon dive' and I'm confident we can get through this together."

China's Aisen Chen was second in the event, with Ukraine's Oleksandr Bondar third, with Olympic champion David Boudia fourth.

Tonia Couch, who won synchronised 10m silver alongside Sarah Barrow on Friday, finished sixth out of six in the women's 10m platform.

She failed to keep up with two-time Olympic champion Ruolin Chen of China as well as Canadian Meagan Benfeito and Pandelela Pamg of Malaysia, who finished with silver and bronze respectively.

"I've got to be happy with the way I have dived this week," she said. "The standard has been incredible and while I always want to do well in the individual event my focus is always going to be in synchro."

British team-mates Barrow and Daniel Goodfellow went out at the semi-final stage earlier in the day.

The team will next compete in the UK at the British Championships, 6-8 June in Sheffield - an event which will serve as the final opportunity for divers to secure their place at the Commonwealth Games.

Related internet links

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.