PLYMOUTH divers will be hoping to come away with medals and places on the plane to Rio from this weekend’s British Championships in Sheffield.

The national competition, which starts on Friday and runs through to Sunday at Ponds Forge will act as final selection for the British team to compete at this summer’s Olympic Games.

The winner of each individual event, subject to achieving the minimum qualification points, will secure a place on the team, providing another diver has not already secured that quota spot. Any additional places will be at the discretion of the national performance director, who will take into account results in Sheffield. 

Plymouth Diving have a team of 13 athletes competing at the championships.

The main focus, as it has been for the last two Olympic trials, will be the women’s 10m platform competition. That will take place on Saturday. Two places in Rio are available in that discipline.

That event will see Plymouth’s Tonia Couch, Sarah Barrow, Victoria Vincent, Robyn Birch and Shanice Lobb competing against the likes of Georgia Ward and Lois Toulson.

Couch and Leeds’ Toulson seem certain to be on the plane to Rio for the 10m synchro after competing in the World Series. They are the only entries in that event in Sheffield on Friday evening.

Former European champion Barrow had partnered Couch to win Great Britain their synchro spot and she will be keen to prove a point in the individual competition.

The minimum points mark for the women’s 10m individual event in Sheffield is 310 in the prelim and 320 in the final.

The men’s 10m individual event, which is on Sunday, will see Tom Daley compete, alongside Plymouth Diving’s Dan Goodfellow, Matthew Dixon and Aidan Heslop.

Daley and Goodfellow will pair up in the men’s 10m synchro on Friday evening, where they will be up against Sheffield’s Elliot Beeden and Conrad Lewandowski.

The men’s three-metre competition on Saturday will feature Plymouth’s Alfie Brown and Alex Kostov, who is guesting as he competes for Bulgaria.

In the women’s three-metre event on Sunday, Plymouth’s Vincent, Kayleigh Sinclair and Madeline Coquoz will compete. Coquoz is another guest as she competes internationally for Switzerland.