EASTER SUNDAY SILVER FOR AUSTRALIAN DIVING PAIR

They may have only trained together less than 10 days, but it was enough for Australian divers Samantha Mills and Esther Qin to win silver at the FINA Grand Prix event in Leon, Mexico.

Mills, from Adelaide, and Qin, from Sydney, held their nerve and tried to avoid looking at the scoreboard to finish just behind China and ahead of home team Mexico in the women’s 3-metre synchro.

Despite the limited preparation, Mills felt confident they would give a good showing.

“Over the last couple of days we’ve been diving really well,” she said.

“We’ve even had other coaches tell us how good we’ve looked. So I felt quite confident.”

After the opening two dives Qin and Mills were in a good position. Mills said neither dared to look at the scoreboard, but she had a peek before the second-to-last dive and knew they were sitting second.

“We had a really good back two and a half, and I knew we were still up there,” the South Australian said.

“We just had to keep positive. I always get a few butterflies, but we just tried to have fun and not take ourselves too seriously.”

Mills and Qin have dived together in the past, most notably in 2013. But it’s been a long time between outings.

When they came together in Adelaide just over a week ago it was like they’d never been apart.

Mills, a gold medalist at the 2013 World University Games, and Qin, a gold medalist at last year’s Commonwealth Games, have now set their sights on qualifying for this year’s World Championships.

“Once we get a chance to train together more we’ll get more confident,” Mills said.

“We’re hoping to give Maddison (Keeney) and Anabelle (Smith) a good contest at the selection trials. I think we have a really good chance as a pair.”

In the short term though Mills and Qin will set their sights on next weekend’s Grand Prix in Canada.