‘Fantastic’ Luton divers impress at Talent Games

Luton Diving Club finished 2021 on a high after sending four divers and their coach Kirsteen Mitchell to the prestigious Talent Games recently.

The competition is the biggest testing event of the year and sees England’s best young divers put through a series of physical and technical exercises.

At the end, the best youngsters are invited to join the Swim England Talent Pathway as part of a Diving Team Two.

Day one saw the divers perform a series of dryland tests where power, strength, speed, gymnastic ability and form were all analysed.

The divers also enjoyed a surprise visit from Olympians Lois Tolson and Jack Laugher.

On day two, the athletes took to the pool on 1m and 3m springboard and 3m platform.

Kalila McCrickard was up first in the girls D competition and after an awesome performance earned three podium trips, with bronze in both pool and dryland, enough for silver overall.

Joshua Saxton was up next in the boys competition, taking bronze in the pool and gold in the dryland, earning a silver overall.

Olivia Sykes smashed the girls C event winning gold in both pool and dryland and gold overall with the highest score of the competition.

The girls E event saw Violet Rhodes, Luton’s youngest diver at the games, dive in her first ever competition, coming away with gold in the pool, silver in dryland and gold overall.

Mitchell said: “This was a fantastic result from the team and a testament to the hard work they have put in, both training at the pool and at home during the lockdowns.

“They should all be immensely proud of themselves.”

Sykes has since been selected along with nine other divers from the UK for Team Z.

She joins Luton divers Lyra Guise-Tucker, Jorden Fisher-Eames, Hannah Brockie, Oscar Kane and Skye Fisher-Eames, who have been selected before and will attend her first camp of the year at the end of January.

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