Daley expresses confidence in synchro partner Brick

By George Scott, Sportsbeat

TOM Daley has confirmed he will be staying with synchro partner Max Brick.

STICKING TOGETHER: Tom Daley believes his fledgling partnership with Max Brick will work

The 15-year-old British diving sensation - who won world gold in the individual 10m platform - and Brick were a promising fifth after two dives in their first major international final last weekend.

But a huge splash from Brick on the entry to their third dive left the fledgling partnership languishing in 12th and last place -  before clawing their way back up the standings to finish ninth.

But Daley - who last year became the youngest European diving champion ever- insists there is more to come from the duo, who showed their potential with an excellent final dive. 

"I think Max Brick is the synchro partner I'm going to stick with," said Daley.

"I have no control over synchro partners, the national performance director chooses for me, but at the moment I'm really enjoying working with Max.

"Everything is going really well with him. At the World Championships we didn't dive quite as well as we would have liked to but it was only our third competition together and to finish ninth was respectable.

"From next year onwards we're going to start getting higher up in the rankings."

Olympic champions Huo Liang and Lin Yue put in another flawless performance, winning comfortably at the Foro Italico.

INSPIRATIONAL: Tom Daley took a guided tour of the London 2012 Olympic Park earlier this week, his guide was Locog chairman Lord Coe (Getty Images)

China collected seven gold medals at the World Championships but Daley - who this week visited the Olympic Park to mark three years until London 2012 - is determined to end their dominance.

"The Chinese divers are in a completely different league at the moment," he added.

"It's just a matter of trying to get there and hopefully by 2012 we'll be on par and it just comes down to what happens on the day.

"You get the Olympic buzz every time you go to the Olympic site. It gives you the inspiration to go back to training and make sure you are at the Olympic Games, performing at your best.

"I've got a three-week break then we're straight back into training.

"Next year we've got a really long season with a World Cup, European Championships, Commonwealth Games, World Junior Diving Championships and Youth Olympics Games - everything is on next year.

"It is going to be one of the shakier years for me because there will be a lot of new dives in there, so it's a matter of getting used to it and making sure that at London 2012 I'm on top form.

"To learn new dives is going to be hard - it drains you psychologically because it's so scary to get up onto the 10m board and do something that you haven't done before.

"It's just a matter of getting up there and doing it and making sure you're ready for competition."