AUSTRALIA CLAIM SHOCK MEDALS AT GOLD COAST DIVING GRAND PRIX

Two Australian divers given less than four hours notice they were diving together have won a surprise gold medal at the diving Grand Prix event on the Gold Coast.

And 18-year-old Victorian schoolboy, Joshua Kehagias, had the performance of his short career to win a shock silver medal in the men’s 3-metre springboard.

As expected, China dominated the first day of medal competition on the Gold Coast, winning three of the five medals on offer.

But the day finished well for Australia, with Lara Tarvit and Nicholas Jeffree winning the mixed synchro platform final.

At lunchtime Australia’s top-rated synchro pair, Melissa Wu and Domonic Bedggood, withdrew because of an injury to Wu.

Tarvit and Jeffree were asked to compete, despite having never dived together, and responded by snatching an unexpected gold.

“We had no preparation, just threw some dives together in warm-up and tried to do the best we could with limited preparation,” Tarvit said.

“We’re both quite adaptable divers, so I think we worked quite well together. I didn’t have any idea where we were sitting in the ranking.”

Jeffree had arrived at the pool not even expecting to dive.

“I didn’t even know I was competing today, I had a day off,” he said.

“I didn’t have any expectations, I think we just wanted to put all our dives down on our heads.”

The Australians snatched the gold from Malaysia’s Yiwei Chew and Jun Hoong Cheong with the final dive of the competition.

Kehagias stole the spotlight off Beijing gold medalist, Matthew Mitcham, in the men’s 3-metre springboard final.

The 18-year-old started strongly, and held his nerve while other divers made mistakes.

Only Chinese diver Bowen Huang finished ahead of the shocked Australian.

“I definitely wasn’t expecting any of this, I was shaking the whole way,” Kehagias said.

“I had to calm myself down for the last two dives. This is the best diving I’ve ever done.

“I was seeking these events more as experience and not expecting to medal, so today worked really well for me.”

Mitcham was solid on a limited preparation, finishing fourth.

In other events, China’s Siyu Ji continued her dominance of the women’s platform at Grand Prix events in 2015, winning her sixth title.

Australia’s Melissa Wu, restricted by a neck injury, finished sixth.

Ji teamed up with Yaying Ding to win gold in the women’s platform synchro, while Germany’s Stephan Feck and Patrick Hausding won gold in the men’s springboard synchro.