Dingley looking to repeat Euro success on world stage

By Liam Kennedy, Sportsbeat

OLIVER Dingley is keeping his fingers crossed the World Junior Championships can springboard him to Commonwealth Games glory next month.

HIGH HOPES: Oliver Dingley is hoping to transfer his European junior success onto the world stage (British Swimming)

The 17-year-old heads to the World Junior Championships in Tucson, Arizona which begins today, riding the crest of a wave, having scooped 1m springboard gold and 3m springboard bronze at the European Junior Championships earlier this summer.

Dingley, a two-time national champion, will have no time to put his feet up after his American adventure, however and will immediately set about finalising his preparations for October's Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

"I think I have a real chance of doing well at the World Junior Championships and either way it is great preparation for Delhi," he said.

"I performed well at the European juniors winning a gold and a bronze medal and a fourth place finish in the synchro so the worlds is the next step up for me.

"I am genuinely excited about Delhi - I just can't wait to get there and compete for England, and fingers crossed perform well.

"The European Championships last year was a real learning curve for me, It was against some of the top class European athletes who are some of the best in the business.

"It was the first time I had come across some of the top Russians and top Germans in competitions and it was real eye opener for me."

Dingley will be joined in Arizona by world 10m platform champion Tom Daley, who has seen his season disrupted by a triceps injury.

Daley was forced to pull out of the European Championships and only contested the 3m springboard competition at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore last month.

But he will make the trip to Tucson before heading to Delhi, and will team up with Max Brick in the 10m synchro competition, after the duo finished ninth at last year's World Championships in Rome.

Megan Sylvester, fresh from claiming her first senior medal at the European Championships in Budapest last month.

Sylvester teamed up with Monique Gladding to claim bronze and while she could not repeat the trick in Singapore, she will be looking to put things right in the USA.