Tom Daley will be hoping to bring some “fireworks” to the pool at the Hamdan Sports Complex today when he lines up for the 10m platform event in the Diving World Series second leg in Dubai.
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The British Olympic bronze medallist debuted a new dive in the opening leg of the series last week in Beijing, a forward 3.5 somersault with one twist in pike position, dubbed ‘the firework’, replacing the ‘demon’ routine – backwards 2.5 somersault with 2.5 twists in pike position – which he performed at the London Games in 2012.
Daley, who admitted he struggled psychologically with the ‘demon’ after taking bronze in London, will be performing his new dive in international competition for just the second time in Dubai today and is looking to fare better than the lowly 54.00 he scored last week in Beijing, where he failed to qualify for the 10m platform final.
Competition day tomorrow in the @fina1908 @DivingWSDubai 
— Tom Daley (@TomDaley1994) March 20, 2015
“It’s nice to get a little bit of bad diving out of your system early on in the season. It’s better to do it then than to do it in the next few competitions and at the World Championships,” Daley told Sport360°, adding that he prefers to call his new dive the ‘twister’ rather than the ‘firework’.
“It’s always scary doing a new dive in international competition for the first time. And that was the first time. I just didn’t have a good time in Beijing. I felt good, I had no injuries and everything was really good, but sometimes you just have a bad day.
“And that’s the frustrating thing about sport; sometimes you’re in it and sometimes you’re not. This has given me a bit of a kick and motivational drive to want to do really well here (in Dubai) and show that I can really do these dives well.”
Daley, 20, is looking to build competition endurance and perfect his new routines ahead of this summer’s World Aquatics Championships in Kazan, where he can seal a qualification spot for the Rio 2016 Olympics.
“You have to drill down your routine and you have to make sure everything’s really good because you have to qualify for a spot (for the Olympics) at the World Championships.
“Because if you don’t then you have to do it next year, and it’s going to add pressure. So it’s always nice to know you’ve got your Olympics spot before you go into offseason training,” the former world champion explained.
The Dubai leg of the world series concludes with its third day of action today at the HSC. Reigning Olympic champion David Boudia and three-time world champion Qiu Bo will feature in the first 10m platform semi-final while Daley will be joined by China’s new threat, Yang Jian, in semi-final B.
Yesterday, Great Britain’s Jack Laugher ensured there would be no Chinese gold medal sweep in Dubai as he clinched gold in the 3m springboard ahead of He Chong and Cao Yuan. The Chinese team have won six of the seven events staged so far this weekend.
