At just 13 years old, Plymouth College’s Victoria Vincent has won the 10m platform event at the senior British Diving Championships. It is thought that she is the youngest ever winner of a senior British title, beating Tom Daley by six months.
Victoria, who is part of the school’s elite athlete family and trains with Plymouth Diving, has already been making waves this year, winning gold for Great Britain at the Dresden International Diving Championships in April – she had to have special permission to compete because of her age.
In the British Championships Victoria was the youngest finalist by three years. She won the prelims and scored an incredible 310.70 in the final to take the title.
“It was a really great feeling to win gold,” said Victoria. “I’m a junior diver so I had no expectations. I just hoped I might make the final. I certainly didn’t expect to win at a senior competition.
“I was quite nervous because I really wanted to dive consistently and do the best I could. I never thought I would score over 300 so it was a really good performance for me.”
Fellow Plymouth College pupil, Francesca Del Celo, 18, won bronze in the 1m springboard. At the recent Junior British Diving Championships, Francesca won gold medals in both the 1m and the 3m events.