PLYMOUTH’S Matthew Dixon was back on the international podium on Sunday as he won a bronze medal with Ben Cutmore at the European Games in Krakow.
Dixon and Cutmore claimed third place for Team GB in the men’s 10m platform synchro final in Poland.
Despite having never dived together before they scored an impressive 372.69 points.
They were actually leading going into the final round, but they just could not quite nail their tough forward four-and-a-half somersaults tuck dive as they would have liked and both the Ukraine and Italy pulled out big final round efforts to overtake them.
The Ukrainian pair of Kirill Boliukh and Oleskii Seveda won with 398.70 points and Italy’s Riccardo Giovannini and Eduard Timbretti Gugiu took second with 388.83 points.
But Dixon and Cutmore were more than happy with their medal
Dixon said: “It means loads, it’s our first competition together – we haven’t done much training and for our first competition to get a bronze medal is great.
“We both know we can do the individual dives, so as long as we communicated well to take off at the same time that would set the foundation.”
Cutmore was thrilled to get the chance to dive with Dixon and represent Team GB at the European Games.
“I think it’s an honour really because our national championships which were a few weeks ago were really tough individually and the synchro teams were formed around those selections,” said Cutmore.
“To get put together with Dixon for the synchro is an achievement for me because I looked up to this kid when I was 10-years-old, so to be diving with him now is quite exciting for me.”
Dixon had also finished sixth in the three-metre final the day before.
Meanwhile, the next crop of Plymouth divers hoping to following in Dixon’s footsteps made their mark at the Swim England Age Group Championships in Sheffield over the weekend.
Plymouth Diving returned home from the championships at Ponds Forge with 17 medals.
Lexi Davies enjoyed a competition to remember, bagging four medals. She won the girls’ B one-metre event, took second in the three-metre and third in the platform, while she teamed up with Erin Healey to win bronze in the girls’ A/B three –metre synchro event.
Ellie Pearce won two individual gold medals in the girls’ A category. She was a convincing winner in both the one-metre and three-metre competitions and was also ninth in the platform event, where team-mate Madeleine Elliott took fourth. Pearce was also sixth with Rose McCabe in the girls’ A/B synchro.
Another Plymouth gold medallist was Noah Underhill, who won the boys’ B three-metre event. Underwood also claimed a silver in the platform competition, where team-mate Alex Whittaker was fifth. Underhill and Whittaker then teamed up to bag a silver in the boys’ A/B three-metre contest.
Will Heath picked up three medals. He took silver in the boys’ C one-metre event, where his club colleague Oscar Westbury took bronze.
Heath was also third in the three-metre and took silver with Westbury in the boys’ C/D one-metre synchro. Oscar Westbury just missed out on another medal in the boys’ C platform, where he came fourth, with Heath fifth and team-mate Isaac Ide ninth.
There was a bronze medal for Harry Westbury in the boys’ D three-metre discipline. He was also fourth in the one-metre.
Ben Hall was another medallist for Plymouth. He won two bronzes – one in the boys’ A one-metre and the other in the platform. He was also fifth in the three-metre.
Isla Applin picked up a bronze medal in the girls’ D three-metre. She was also fourth in the one-metre and platform, with her team-mate Alice Jones also finishing in the top nine in those three events.
Ava Cowper just missed out on a medal in the girls’ C one-metre, where she came fourth. She was also fourth in the girls’ C/D one-metre with Isla Applin and was also in the top nine for the three-metre and platform contests.