TARVIT WINS GOLD FOR AUSTRALIA

Lara Tarvit has won gold at the World Junior Diving Championships in Penza, Russia.

17-year-old Tarvit left it to her final dive in the 10-metre platform final to snatch the lead, giving Australia it’s first gold medal of the Championships.

Tarvit dived superbly in the preliminary competition to finish on top of the leaderboard, but looked to have thrown away her chance of a gold when she was fourth after the first round of the final.

But her second dive scored 8.5 from all the judges, lifting the Brisbane-based diver to outright second.

She fell back again to third after her next dive, but then remained calm for her final dive to clinch the title.

NSW’s Brittany O’Brien finished 12th in the final after qualifying in eighth position, and showed plenty of good signs for the future.

Tarvit’s form going into the World Championships was solid, with a close fourth in the platform final at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

In other results on Saturday, Brodie Scapens once again showed flashes of brilliance, finishing a clear first in the preliminary round of the boys’ 3-metre springboard.

Kurtis Mathews was once again very consistent, finishing the prelims strongly to qualify in sixth position.

Unfortunately both boys made shaky starts to their final, but showed tremendous character to fight their way back up the leaderboard.

Mathews once again finished strongly to grab fourth place, while Scapens finished sixth.

Australia has also won three bronze medals and a silver at the Championships this week, with one more day of competition to come.