Diving Report: Sunday 11^th December 2011

The 2011 London Schools Winter Diving Championships had the largest entry to date, with 129 entries from 81 schools across a third of the London Boroughs.

Medals and trophies were presented by Chris Smith, the London School’s Swimming Director.  Three distinguished officials judged the competition, Olympic coach Derek Beaumont, Betty Allen the ESSA Diving Manager and Cheng Yang also an Olympic Coach.

There were twelve competitions for Junior and Secondary School divers.  The standard was varied from beginners to National Skill Medallists. Thanks to Fran Diaz, the  competition was run "Live" on the Web ( diverecorder) for supporters to watch if they couldn't attend.

Bromley finished as the top School Borough taking five golds, three silvers and a bronze.  Croydon schools finished with the most medals with a haul of ten and there were two golds for Lambeth, and one gold each for Lewisham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Bexley.  Four other Boroughs, Westminster, Wandsworth, Greenwich and Sutton, had divers with top three finishes.

One of the most nail biting of the twelve competitions was the Girls Year 3 & Under.

Mabel Smith from Thomas’s Clapham (Lambeth) scored three near perfect 9.5s to finish third, putting pressure on Evie Smith of Parish Junior School (Bromley) and Clara Papworth of St Chads (Croydon).  Both Evie and Clara responded with stunning performances, both scoring two perfect 10s to finish first and second respectively.

Former British Olympic Coach Derek Beaumont said the standard this year was absolutely exceptional but not surprising as  the majority of the divers competing at the schools competition had been talent picked and were receiving expert coaching.

Chris Snode, the London School Diving Manager added, what was encouraging was the shear spread of depth at this years competition.  33 schools out of the 81 schools had divers finish in the top three. Furthermore the schools were from across eleven of the London Boroughs. Next School Championships is on Sunday 4^th March.

See Results Page for full individual results

Medal Table: