The one about the World Series part 1

The start of the season is always a bit tough, a lack of sleep in Beijing due to the time difference and then playing catch up in the next leg in Dubai. It took over 24 hours to travel to Beijing, two days of training then boom straight into competition. The Beijing pool has changed a bit since I first competed there at the 2008 World Cup, together Monique Gladding and I secured a place for a synchro team to compete in the Olympic Games. There is now a warm up area on the pool deck now looks.

Beijing Pool

The World Series Team

Hard scoring for the 10m synchro put Tonia and I in 5^th place. Nerves just didn’t kick in, probably due to the lack of sleep but I felt very flat on competition day, its something I don’t get often and it is hard work. I compete better on adrenaline and nerves, I have no idea where they were.

We were both disappointed with our score in synchro but we had to move on looking ahead to our individual competition two days after.

Both of my individual competitions over the two weeks scored just four points apart, consistent scores, which I settled with but I can and have done better.

Buses are put on from the hotel to the pool and back again a few times a day. China does have some odd driving rules, which normally means none at all. We were sitting on a full bus with a few of the team when another bus went into the back of us! I am surprised this is only the third accident I have seen in all my trips to China! We all got off and walked back to the hotel instead.

Bus crash!

 Up at 3am to travel to Dubai a week later, another two days of training before competition starts. Not the best amount of time for my preparation, I have to get used to a different board surface, different water agitation, colours of surroundings and time difference, it is quite difficult on top of tiredness. But it is always the same every year, maybe next year we should look at changing our preparation.

Dubai Pool

Down time before our competition was a trip to the beach, it wasn’t too hot and it was nice to chill after the madness of travel and training before another competition.

Rest afternoon on the beach

Our synchro competition improved in Dubai but we were making changes to timings for take-offs up until the day before the meet. It is not going to be perfect whilst competing through changes plus the platforms are not big enough to even train next to each other. We finished 6^th in Dubai with a better score than last week. Bad competitions just mean we will be even better at the next one.

The whole team came away with an incredible Gold from Jack Laugher, silver from Tom Daley and a bronze from Tonia Couch. We have 3 weeks of training until we leave for a training camp in Russia for a week before the next two World Series legs in Russia and London. Working hard to grab a medal myself. The London leg is from May 1-3 at the Olympic Aquatic Centre.

Jack the Champion

Competitions are streamed online on:

http://www.omegatiming.com/Sport?sport=AQ

And tickets can still be bought for the London leg on:

http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/FINA-Diving-World-Series-tickets/artist/1814747

Bring on the next legs