World Aquatics Championships: GB's Lois Toulson and Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix win 10m synchro silver
- Published
Lois Toulson and Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix have become the first British women to win a world diving medal.
They claimed 10m synchronised silver at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
Second place also booked an Olympic qualifying spot for the British pair and follows on from their European 10m synchro gold medal in Rome last year.
"I think I can speak for both of us [when I say] that we are over the moon," said Toulson, 23.
"Coming into this competition, we both knew that we could do it, but that sometimes makes it worse.
"I've been after a world medal for a while now, so to finally come away with one next to Andrea with a good performance, it makes all the hard work feel worth it."
Toulson and Spendolini-Sirieix, 18, qualified for the finals in third place but eventually finished just 58.08 points behind China's Yuxi Chen and Hongchan Quan, who claimed gold with 369.84 points, while United States' Delaney Schnell and Jessica Parratto took bronze with 294.42.
A world silver medal continued a stunning sequence of results for Spendolini-Sirieix, who had to combine training with revising for her A-level exams.
She also won the individual women's 10m gold at the European Aquatics Championships in 2022, as well as individual and mixed synchro titles at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and the women's 10m platform title at the Junior World Championships in Montreal.
"It's incredible. I'm so proud of us," said Spendolini-Sirieix. "We have achieved so many goals - we got the Paris spot [for the 2024 Olympic Games], we got more than 300 points, we improved on the prelims and then adding to history is a beautiful moment."
TV personality Fred Sirieix led the plaudits for his daughter, tweeting, external: "It's all smiles in Japan."
Both Spendolini-Sirieix and Toulson will now compete in the women's individual 10m platform, which begins on 18 July.
Key sessions from the World Aquatic Championships will be available either on 5 Live Sports Extra, the BBC Sport website & App, and BBC Sounds