Great Britain's Jack Laugher has produced a stunning display to take the men's 3m gold medal at the first meet of the FINA World Diving Series in Beijing.
The 22-year-old followed up his silver in the 3m synchro event yesterday with a tally of 554.00 for his six dives, almost 15 points ahead of his Chinese rivals.
Laugher's repertoire included a session-best score of 99.45 - just shy of a rare three-figure mark - for his most difficult dive, the forward 2-1/2 somersaults with 3 twists, and included four 90-plus marks.
China's Xie Siyi and Olympic champion Cao Yuan, who together beat Laugher to gold in the synchro, had to settle for silver and bronze respectively with scores of 539.15 and 510.05. The pair did show moments of brilliance, with Cao delivering a 94.50 for his reverse 3-1/2 and Xie scoring 97.20 for his back 3-1/2, but were unable to mount a comeback as Laugher held firm with a consistent performance throughout.
Russia's Ilya Zakharov finished fourth on 499.25, followed by Ukrainian veteran Illya Kvasha on 450.20, while 19-year-old Philippe Gagne of Canada brought up the rear with a respectable tally of 443.50.
Final leaderboard - men's 3m:
1. Jack Laugher (GBR) - 554.00
2. Xie Siyi (CHN) - 539.15
3. Cao Yuan (CHN) - 510.05
4. Ilya Zakharov (RUS) - 499.45
5. Illya Kvasha (UKR) - 450.20
6. Philippe Gagne (CAN) - 443.50
Jack Laugher dive-by-dive scorecard:
1. Forward 2-1/2 somersaults 2 twists (3.4 DD) - 95.20
2. Reverse 3-1/2 somersaults (3.5 DD) - 85.75
3. Inward 3-1/2 somersaults (3.4 DD) - 86.70
4. Forward 2-1/2 somersaults 3 twists (3.9 DD) - 99.45
5. Forward 4-1/2 somersaults (3.8 DD) - 96.90
6. Back 3-1/2 somersaults (3.6 DD) - 90.00
Neil Wilkes
