Daley beaten by returning Waterfield in Sheffield

HE may be world champion, but Tom Daley had to settle for second place in his first domestic event of 2010 at the British Gas National Cup in Sheffield.

SECOND BEST: World 10m diving champion Tom Daley insists he will return stronger after being beaten to first by Peter Waterfield at the British Gas National Cup in Sheffield (Getty Images)

The 15-year old, who scooped world gold in Rome last August, was pipped to first in the 10m individual event by former Olympic silver medallist Peter Waterfield.

Southampton diver Waterfield has struggled with fitness since striking silver in Athens six years ago but showed no signs of rustiness as he led from the start in Sheffield.

Both divers performed the back 2 ½ Somersaults 2 ½ Twists which Daley has added to his repertoire for 2010 but it was the senior competitor who came out on top, scoring 523.65 to Daley's 483.60.

And Waterfield, who also struck 3m synchro gold with Chris Mears on Friday, admitted his weekend in Sheffield had exceeded all expectations.

"I have just beaten the world champion but that wasn't the aim for the competition," said Waterfield.

"For me it was about the performance and today has given me a good confidence boost for the rest of the year.

"I just came wanting to do as well as I could because it's my first big competition since the Olympics and so I wanted to get a good performance under my belt.

"I knew I had been doing well in training and had those dives in me. Diving before Tom, I knew I could put pressure on him and I'm really happy with how it's turned out."

Waterfield's Southampton teammate Max Brick collected bronze on 425.15 but the battle for top spot was only ever between the top two who will lock horns again in the Diving World Series in China, Mexico and Sheffield in March and April.

And while Daley paid tribute to Waterfield, he admitted wasn't ready to taste second place again any time soon.

"I'm disappointed to be second but there are a lot of positives I can take from that performance," said Daley.

"Everyone has an off day but what really pleased me was the new dive where I scored 8.5s the first time I've used it in competition.

"On paper you would say the world champion is supposed to win the British championships but sport doesn't work like that.

"Pete is an incredible diver and Olympic silver medallist and he had a fantastic day today.

"It's nice to have such strong competition in Britain but I don't like what I'm feeling at this moment so I'll go away and work harder to try to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Meanwhile, Rebecca Gallantree also led from the start to clinch her third gold in Sheffield for the 3m individual.

The City of Leeds diver, who also collected synchro 10m and 3m titles with Stacie Powell and Alicia Blagg respectively, finished on 305.80 with Crystal Palace's Jessica Williams second on 267.50 and Edinburgh's Grace Reid third on 260.55.