Daley and Waterfield take gold in National Championship to secure Olympic spot
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Tom Daley and Pete Waterfield fired a warning to their Olympic rivals by producing a British record in the 10m synchronised at the national diving championships in Sheffield.
The pair scored 475.77 to smash their previous best by more than 15 points and reaffirm their position as gold medal contenders for London.
Golden boys: Tom Daley (left) and Peter Waterfield on their way to winning the Mens 10m Sychro final
It was a particularly pleasing display given Waterfield has been out with a neck injury and the fact there was even room for improvement in a couple of their six dives.
'It's perfect timing,' said Daley, who turned 18 last month.
'We're on the track and going in the right direction. We're really happy with the way we've performed and really excited now. It's quite scary to think that's our last synchro competition before London.'
Waterfield, 31, added: 'It's nice to come back and do a good performance. I never stopped training completely but because of the injury I was having long periods off in between sessions.
'Our synchro was spot on. There were only a couple of bits at the end of my dives. I've been having a little bit of time out so when I get that consistency back through more training it will be there for the Games.'
Leaping to glory: Daley (left) and Waterfield secured their Olympic berth
To put their score into context, a total of 468.18 won the gold in Beijing four years ago. Their fourth dive – a reverse three-and-a-half somersaults – brought the biggest cheer and largest score with a series of perfect 10s from the judges.
It was a vast improvement on their disappointing show at the test event in February and bodes well for this summer, which will be Waterfield's fourth Olympics.
In synch: Daley and Waterfield continue to make a splash
'It was quite nice to go in there and have everything go well,' said Daley. 'We needed a good performance.'
Waterfield said: 'We wanted to prove everyone wrong and we wanted to prove ourselves wrong because we did a bad performance at the test event.
'We knew that we would improve over the year and we have done. We won the overall World Series and it's nice to be now, so close to the Games, putting in good performances.
'I've been thinking about the Olympics for the last four years. Every time I get up to go training in the morning I think about the Olympics.
'It's my fourth and I got a medal in one of them so if I can get a medal in two of them it will be 50 per cent.'
Meanwhile, European champions Tonia Couch and Sarah Barrow won the women's 10m synchronised – even though they were the only entrants.
They scored a personal best of 327.18, seven points better than their gold-medal display in Eindhoven last month.
'It was a little bit crazy,' said Couch 23. 'It felt like all eyes on you, especially when we were walking up the stairs. But it was really good fun.
'It's actually quite nice to dive against another pair because we do better when we're got a few nerves. So doing a PB when we're relaxed bodes well for next time.
'Everything's going to plan, we're working really hard.'
Solid gold: Daley (right) and Waterfield after winning the Mens 10m Sychro final
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