• Diving

Daley's new dive secures golden homecoming

Tom Daley unveiled his new and entirely unique twister dive for the first time © PA Photos

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Tom Daley made a golden return to his hometown of Plymouth after finishing first on the last day of the British Gas Diving Championships.

There was a tremendous buzz at the Plymouth Life Centre on Sunday, and Daley did not disappoint his home crowd. He unveiled his new twister dive - a forward three-and-a-half somersaults with one twist pike - that no one had performed before.

Daley, whose highest score was 96.20 for a front four-and-a-half tucked somersault, finished the day with 493.70 points to secure his second national title.

Matt Dixon, 14, had to settle for silver, while City of Leeds' Matty Lee picked up the bronze.

"I dived pretty well considering it was the first competition I have done in about five months," said Daley. "Everything was steady, nothing was amazing but nothing was bad but I'm looking forward to building on that in the competitions to come.

"My dive, the new twister, went pretty well actually," he continued. "It was all there. I could have done a little better on some of the elements, like getting my entry better, but that all comes with a new dive. The more I do it, the better it will get."

Daley, who moved to London to train a year ago, is looking forward to competing at the World Championships this summer in Kazan, Russia.

"It's the first opportunity to qualify for the Olympic Games so I need to make sure I'm in the best shape," he added. "But we've got the World Series before that, so there are lots of chances to practice my new dive and make sure that I am in the best competition shape."

In the other event on the final day, five-time British champion Rebecca Gallantree captured gold in the three-metre springboard.

Gallantree missed her second dive in the final but hit back in the third round with her front three-and-a-half somersaults piked. She finished with a score of 304.20, while club team-mate Katherine Torrance got silver and Plymouth's Rhea Gayle settled for bronze.

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