Team GB’s Laugher and Houlden flop in 3m springboard final as China take gold and silver

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Jack Laugher was unable to live up to the considerable hype his career has built for him as he flopped to seventh in the men’s 3m springboard final, trailing Chris Houlden in fifth and the unstoppable Chinese in first and second.

There seem to be three certainties in life, and the third is Chinese dominance in the diving pool, Siyi Xie’s gold today making it six golds from the six available in diving in Paris, as he edged out compatriot Zongyuan Wang by 13.40 points to defend his Olympic title. The Chinese were in a league of their own, Wang in second just under 30 points clear of bronze medallist Osmar Olvera Ibarra of Mexico, who himself was over 70 points clear of the USA’s Tyler Carson in fourth.

Laugher had qualified in third, and his four Olympic diving medals make him the second-best diver in British Olympic history, but he fell out of medal contention on his third dive, with an irrecoverable score of 35.70 despite a medal-worthy start, so failed to draw level with Tom Daley on five medals, or add to this silver, then bronze he won in this event in 2016 and 2021 respectively.

Houlden meanwhile, performed about as expected, but the Chinese freight train is just untouchable, and they have just the women’s 3m springboard and men’s 10m platform events left to secure an unprecedented gold-sweep in the diving pool.

03:48 PM BST

Hear from Britain’s divers:

Jack Laugher tells the BBC he’s “devestated”, having “let the emotion get the better of me”. Houlden spoke at greater length as follows:

03:28 PM BST

Final leaderboard

1. Gold: Siyi Xie, China – 543.60

2. Silver: Zongyuan Wang, China – 530.20

3. Bronze: Osmar Ibarra, Mexico – 500.40

4. Tyler Carson, USA – 429.25

5. Chris Houlden, Great Britain – 427.75

6. Luis Uribe Bermudez, Columbia – 421.85

7. Jack Laugher, Great Britain – 410.95

8. Jules Bouyer, France – 395.70

03:25 PM BST

Siyi Xie wins gold

Xie has all but secured gold there, 100.70, oh my goodness!! Drop a needle in some water and that’s an accurate representation of his entry there, that’s absolutely wild.

Wang, the synchro gold medallist, needed 116 and put in a valiant attempt with the best dive of the competition – a mind-blowing 102.60. Xie defends his Tokyo title, the Chinese divers are genuinely unbelievable, no hyperbole about that statement.

Ibarra takes bronze, then there’s quite the gulf to Carson in fourth. The Chinese diving behemoth rolls on, they draw level on the Olympic gold medal table with the USA on 27, and claim a sixth gold medal from six available in the diving pool so far. In the two individual events, they’ve claimed second too. Utterly unstoppable in most circumstances, but especially when Jack Laugher is having an off day

03:19 PM BST

Houlden and Laugher finish up

But Ibarra’s last dive in between them is the more important one. Houlden scores a 74.10, and will finish fifth behind USA’s Tyler Carson.

Ibarra nails it! 93.60!! He breaks 500, excellent work from the Mexican, a well-deserved medal secured.

Laugher next, his two-Olympic medal streak breaks but he finishes with a flourish, scoring 70.20 but falling way below his usual 500+ standards with 410.95 – Tom Daley remains the only British diver to win five Olympic medals.

Gold and silver yet to be decided…

03:14 PM BST

Bouyer makes a splash

A good phrase in most sports, certainly not this one. At the halfway mark he was definitely in medal contention but Ibarra and the Chinese divers are in a different leage. A 47.50 is a disappointing end, the crowd appreciated it nonetheless.

03:09 PM BST

Podium after five

1. Siyi Xie, China – 442.90

2. Zongyuan Wang, China – 426.60

3. Osmar Ibarra, Mexico – 406.80

4. Chris Houlden, Great Britain – 353.565

Jack Laugher finished that round in eighth on 340.75, a day to forget amidst many to remember in the diving pool for the man from Harrogate.

03:06 PM BST

Chinese battle to go down to wire

A slip up from Wang is still a good dive for any other layman – 70.20. Xie goes first of the two and scores 88.80, it gives him the lead! Podium to come…

03:05 PM BST

Ibarra lays down gauntlet

Superb from the Mexican, his bronze is looking really secure but he could be going further with dives like that, 98.80!

Laugher meanwhile posts 74.10, Houlden 70.20 – it puts the latter Briton in fourth after five, but he’s over 20 points behind bronze. For Laugher, his timing is all off, he’s about 70 points behind where he usually is by now…

03:01 PM BST

Bouyer momentum suspended

A 57.75 might just write off any medal hopes on the Frenchman’s penultimate dive. The podium is all but decided now, but who will finish where?

02:59 PM BST

Laugher’s struggles

Whilst the idiosyncrasies of a diver’s flight mystifies most, the entry point is a giveaway for how well they’ll score, divers are aiming to enter perpendicular to the water. This photo showcases where it’s going wrong for Laugher, the bigger the entry angle, the bigger the splash, the lower the score:

02:55 PM BST

Podium after four dives

1. Zongyuan Wang, China – 357.40

2. Siyi Xie, China – 354.10

3. Osmar Ibarra, Mexico – 308.00

Houlden sixth with 283.35, Laugher 10th with 266.65. Divers now struggling to match the Chinese duo’s three dives with their fourths

02:53 PM BST

Chinese dominance inevitable

It’s a fascinating and superhuman between the two Chinese divers. They barely make a splash, it looks like someone’s just skimming stones across the Aquatics Centre. Xie scores 91.00, Wang 89.25.

02:50 PM BST

Brits leave it all to do

Ibarra saves a dive having flown too far away from the board, his heigh suffering as a result, and his 75.85 will quell French hopes for now.

Houlden returns with an improved 74.10, but Laugher continues to perform beneath his considerably high standard – 72.15. Little to no medal hopes now, especially if Ibarra continues to perform well.

02:48 PM BST

France going well

France haven’t ever won a diving medal but Jules Bouyer is flying in every sense of the word. A tidy looking dive posts a 68.25, he’s in contention.

02:41 PM BST

Leaderboard after round 3

1. Zongyuan Wang, China – 268.15

2. Siyi Xie, China – 263.10

3. Osmar Ibarra, Mexico – 232.15

Laugher down in 10th with 194.50, Houlden in eighth with 209.35.

02:40 PM BST

Chinese divers ruthless

Xie posts a massive 97.20 – you just can’t slip up against him.

Nor can you slip up against Wang, he scores 95.55 to retain a slender lead.

02:37 PM BST

Houlden and Laugher struggle

Houlden emulates Laugher’s 2nd round reverse 3.5 somersault dive and scores 68.25 – this is running away from him a bit here.

Mexico’s Ibarra is next and makes a splash on entry, it’s a 63.00 which opens things up for Laugher and certainly ends his brief hops of challenging the Chinese divers.

BIG splash from Laugher here, over-rotated so his entry wasn’t great. Heads in hands for the whole GB team watching in the crowd. 35.70…

02:33 PM BST

Divers struggling with board

It’s nothing like the women’s 3m springboard final when USA’s Alison Gibson hit the board on her way down, but some of these divers are springing off the platform at all sorts of angles and points on the board – Germany’s Mortiz Wesemann posts a 40.25 in his third dive, South Korea’s Haram Woo a 45.60.

02:28 PM BST

Leaderboard after 2 dives

1. Zongyuan Wang, China – 172.60

2. Osmar Olvera Ibarra, Mexico – 169.15

3. Siyi Xie, China – 165.90

4. Jack Laugher, Great Britain – 158.80

5. Jules Bouyer, France – 154.70

Houlden down in joint 10th with 141.10

02:26 PM BST

Wang lays down gauntlet

Xie’s 79.20 is met with loud applause from the big Mexican numbers in the crowd, his entry not as bafflingly subtle as before.

Wang’s dive is excellent despite his heels clipping the water – it’s a massive 91 points! Updated leaderboard incoming…

02:24 PM BST

Britons yet to make statement

Houlden performs a 3.65 inward somersaults, Laugher 3.5 reverse somersaults, closely following Bouyer who posts an 80+ score, and either side of Ibarra who posts a massive 89.25

Houlden’s ‘inwards’ phrase means he was facing back to water as he sprung off the board but flips forward – it’s a disappointing 64.6.

Laugher’s reverse refers to him facing forward as he jumps but flipping backwards – it’s 84.00 dead which is a competitive score should he back it up with similar scores.

02:16 PM BST

Chinese duo go next

And they lay down an early gauntlet, no surprise there. If you weren’t looking you wouldn’t know someone had crashed into the pool from a six metre peaked jump after about five seconds from their entry, its utterly seamless.

Here are the first round scores:

1. Siyi Xie, China – 86.70

2. Zongyuan Wang, China – 81.60

3. Osmar Olvera Ibarra, Mexico – 79.90

4. Jonathan Ruvulcaba, Dominican Republic – 76.50
   Carson Tyler, USA
   Jordan Houlden, Great Britain

5. Moritz Wesemann, Germany – 74.80
   Jack Laugher

02:11 PM BST

Laugher’s first dive

Forward double twisting 2.5 but he propels himself too far forward off the board – he’s of a higher quality than a lot of the roster so his score of 74.8 is still competitive to begin with – plenty time yet.

02:09 PM BST

Houlden’s first dive

Is performed after home favourite Jules Bouyer nails his first dive.

Excellent dive in my eyes, a 10/10, but I am likely to say that each time he and Laugher take the plunge. He scores 76.5 to put him into a provisionally joint second.

02:06 PM BST

First dives under-way

Going in reverse order, we’re under-way, with divers getting their first dives of six out the way. Given points accumulate for a big total rather than a best result taken as with comparable sports like gymnastics. You can therefore measure 600 as a perfect score, and anything north of 450 competitive, anything north of 500 enough to worry the Chinese.

It’s therefore a bad start for Columbia’s Luis Uribe Bermudez who’s first dive registers 49.30 as he skews his take off. We’re very quickly through so Houlden will be next…

02:01 PM BST

Meet Jack Laugher

Being Britain’s second most successful diver ever – behind none other than Tom Daley – doesn’t pay as well as you might think, so Laugher has resorted to alternative means to keep his olympic dream going – you can read more about that here.

01:50 PM BST

Laugher stands in the way of Chinese clean sweep

Good afternoon and welcome to our live blog of the men’s 3m springboard diving final, where Britain’s Chris Houlden and Jack Laugher are two of 12 men diving for the penultimate men’s diving medal on offer at Paris 2024.

Laugher is a big British hopeful for the podium, qualifying third behind the two indominable Chinese divers Zongyuan Wang, who won the 3m synchro last Friday, and Siyi Xie who won synchro and individual gold in Tokyo. Laugher has been the Chinese diving team’s biggest nuisance over the last eight years however, winning synchro gold in 2016, as well as individual silver at the same Games as well as a bronze in Tokyo, and trails Xie by 38.8 points in qualification – Wang way ahead on 537.85.

Houlden’s Olympic pedigree is modest compared to the above three given this event is his Olympic debut – Laugher’s synchro partner Anthony Harding didn’t enter the individual event – but has won Commonwealth Games, European Championships and World Cup silver medals across the last two years and has qualified fifth for this afternoon’s final.

With just the women’s 3m individual springboard and men’s individual 10m platform finals to go in the diving pool, this is one of the last British chances to prevent a Chinese clean sweep in the Paris aquatics centre; China have won all five gold medals on offer so far, and in the only individual event – the women’s 10m platform – they took gold and silver.

Laugher is one of the only men to break their gold medal streaks in the 21st century so does possess significant fear factor even if 22-year-old Wang has qualified 60 points ahead of him, and will need to harness the support of a tight-knit GB diving team to do the unthinkable – it is worth saying that a medal is far from guaranteed with Houlden and Mexico’s Olvera Ibarra breathing down his neck but (aside from Houlden) let’s ignore that and give Laugher full backing.

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