ALBATROSS Diving Club put in a strong performance at their first competition of the season, the Southampton Invitational.

Finlay Cook and James West led the team bringing home two gold and two silver medals.

Competing in boys B (14-15 yrs), Cook won gold on 3m where a strong inward two-and-a-half somersault contributed to an outstanding personal best performance (289.65).

He repeated this success on 1m where a newly-learned back one-and-a-half, one-and-a-half twisting dive helped clinch the silver. Cook also recorded a PB on platform to finish fourth.

West used his newly-learned back one-and-a-half somersault pike to win gold on 1m (boys C 12-13yrs).

On 3m a well-executed back two-and-a-half somersault dive brought West the silver whilst on platform he finished sixth.

Charlotte West and Hal Watts also won medals in the Group A (16+) events.

The former won silver on platform with the help of a PB scoring inward two-and-a-half somersault dive (51.3).

She returned to the podium to take silver in the 1m and bronze in the 3m events. Watts recorded a significant personal best (317.9) on 3m to win the preliminary round before going on to take silver in the final.

After strong performances in the preliminary rounds, including several new dives, Watts finished fifth on platform and sixth on 1m. Edward Beal and Ollie Breach both made finals in boys B (14-15yrs) events.

Beal delivered a strong PB performance on platform to finish sixth whilst Breach dived consistently well on springboard, finishing fifth in both the 1m and 3m.

Billy Minns (Group A 16+) alongside Quinn Shaw, Ethan Jones and Sophie Bailey (group C 12-13 yrs) all competed well across their events with Quinn recording PBs on all boards and Sophie a PB on platform.

The invitational was a first taste of age group competition for five other team members.

Zac Cooper, Natalia Ivanov, Molly Lefever, Milly Orgill and Tilly Waight gained valuable experience across all boards with the latter in particular showing a promising performance on 3m where she performed her newly learned front two-and-a-half somersault dive.

Coaches were also impressed by Cooper’s strong showing in the infamous charity “chamois ripping competition” which ends with a showcase jump or dive from the 10m platform.