SDA had a 13 strong team of divers that travelled to the coastal town of Rijeka in July, for the Rijeka Open International. Alongside Coaches Molly & Brandon were the 'Mum's' of the trip Hannah & Ruth who kept everything running smoothly. It's hard to describe the diving pool in Rijeka, the words 'Postcard Perfect' spring (excuse the pun) to mind, with a stunning outdoor pool and the beautiful backdrop of the Adriatic Sea. Quite simply put, this is one of the most incredible places in the world to dive and our team felt extremely lucky to be able to compete here for the 4 day event.
The competition went very well, with 'bluebird' conditions for the week and some spectacular performances from our divers that included a host of PB's and medals.
Day 1 Saw Imogen Poole take the 1m bronze medal in a 26 strong field of C Girls, while Ella Swete was closely behind in 4th place. Elizabeth Hart dived amazingly to take bronze, with Natalie Barr in 4th and Lily Chandler 5th in the hotly contested Girls A Platform. Huge PB's saw Harry King take 7th in the C Boys 3m and Samantha Barr with a 10th in a ridiculous 38 strong Girls B 1m field.
Day 2 was more of the same, stunning conditions and even more stunning diving. Olly Wignall took home the chocolates with a dominant win in the Boys A Platform scoring a 10 for his forward 3&1/2. In the Boys B Platform Jed Brown took out silver, pushed by Andrei Golovatii who took home the bronze. Boys C 1m again saw Harry King in 7th, with Ella Swete taking 4th in the Girls C 3m and Imogen Poole in 6th. In the Girls B 3m Samantha Barr finished a very credible 15th in again by far the largest field of competitors (37).
Day 3 saw another one for the books. Maya Kutty took away a Silver in the Woman's A 1m, while the Girls A 1m saw Imogen Fitzsimmons finish 19th, Natalie Barr 11th, Elizabeth Hart 8th and Lily Chandler 4th. Boys A 3m had Olly Wignall finishing with the Bronze, Reuben Havenga in 5th and Adam Tearle in 7th in an amazing effort from the lads. Equally as amazing was Harry Kings huge PB and Bronze medal in the Boys C Platform, while Imogen Poole took out the Silver in the Girls C Platform and Ella Swete PB'd in 7th. Andrei and Jed took 7th and 5th respectively in the Boys B 1m.
The 4th and final day at The Rijeka Open 2024 and what a day it was. Medals & PB’s galore. Results were as follows:👇
Boys A 1m: Adam Tearle 8th, Reuben Havenga 5th and Oliver Wignall with an incredible 2nd.
Girls B Platform: Samantha Barr 20th, again in a huge field.
Girls A 3m: Imogen Fitzsimmons 8th, Natalie Barr 7th with Lily Chandler in 2nd and Elizabeth Hart in 1st in an epic battle that went down to the wire. Elizabeth dived out of her skin to take the Gold medal in this one.
Boys B 3m: Jed Brown 4th and Andrei Golovatti with an impressive 3rd🥉.
To finish out the event there was some synchro diving. Typically the synchro Events are a bit of fun and generally the combinations don't get a lot of time to practice.
Ella Swete teamed up with Star Diving's Sophia Harris in a sometimes comical pairing (their only practice coming on the day) for a 5th place, while the proven pairing of Imogen Poole and Southend's Alice Murphy took home the Gold Medal (following on from their Silver Synchro medal at Junior Elites). Elizabeth Hart and Natalie Barr teamed up for a 2nd in the Girls A synchro, with Reuben Havenga (recently back from injury) and Olly Wignall smashing the Boys A synchro and taking home the Gold to finish off an awesome competition.
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