Tom Daley will bid for his second gold at Tokyo 2020 later on Saturday after qualifying in fourth place for the final of the men’s 10 metres platform.
Daley, who topped the podium alongside Matty Lee in the synchronised event last week as he ended a 13-year wait for an Olympic gold medal, was not at his absolute best but he advanced from the semi-finals with only minor alarms.
A total points score of 207 at the halfway stage – after an underwhelming 54 from his third dive – left Daley ninth in the 18-strong field and, with only the top 12 progressing, he still had a bit of work to do.
A place in the 10m platform final? @TomDaley1994 bids for his place in the top 12 at 2am BST.#TeamGB #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/wmIbPUpEFy — Team GB (@TeamGB) August 7, 2021
He surprisingly bowed out of this stage at Rio 2016 but there would be no repeat as his forward four and a half somersaults with tuck was awarded 88.8 while his back three and a half somersaults with pike collected 93.6.
An overall haul of 462.9 was marginally better than the 453.7 he amassed in Friday afternoon’s preliminaries, where he also placed fourth.
Cao Yuan (513.7) came out on top in the semis, ahead of Chinese compatriot Yang Jian (480.85), with Aleksandr Bondar of the Russian Olympic Committee (464.1) the only other person ahead of Daley.
