Monique Gladding and Stacie Powell held their nerve in front of a packed home crowd to qualify in sixth and 14th place for the semi-final of the women’s 10m
Platform.
By reaching the final 18 in the event the athletes have achieved an Olympic quota place for Great Britain. The country now holds two Olympic places for the women’s 10m Platform.
Gladding had a steady start with her Inward 2 ½ Somersaults piked to score 63.00 points and the City of Sheffield diver improved from there.
Her best dive came in the third round with her Armstand Back Double Somersaults 1 ½ Twists in Free Position with scores of 7.5 to move her into third place.
She finished with her Front 3 ½ Somersaults Piked to score a total of 320.30 and finish sixth.
Powell dropped her Back 3 ½ Somersaults piked but picked herself back up and finished with one of her hardest dives, the Inward 3 ½ Somersaults tucked to finish in 14th with a score of 299.70.
After the competition Gladding said: “For both of us today the job was to get through to the semi-final and now we can go back and focus ready for tomorrow. To be fair today was about getting through this round. Finishing sixth is fantastic but we can both move forward to the semis now.”
Powell added: “There is a lot of pressure with the home crowd because you don’t want to let them down but it was so great to hear them. It is great to be back after my injury. I’m diving better now than I was back then so getting through this round with the intense pressure now I can relax a bit and enjoy it and hopefully step up a gear.”
