Tom Daley set to unveil new dive at British Gas Championships

Star diver Tom Daley set to reveal new routine.

This week’s British Gas Diving Championships in Plymouth will mark a homecoming for Tom Daley – and the unveiling of his new routine.

The event at the Plymouth Life Centre, which runs from Friday to Sunday, sees Daley back competing at the venue for the first time since he left his city of birth to relocate his training base to London around a year ago.

And with coach Jane Figueiredo, the 20-year-old Olympic 10-metre platform bronze medallist has developed a new dive that is set to get its public debut here in what Daley says will be a “world first”.

He has scrapped what he had referred to as his “demon dive” – the backwards two-and-a-half somersault with two-and-a-half twists routine in the piked position, which had caused him trouble for some time – and replaced it with a new “twister”, described as a “forward three-and-a-half somersaults with one twist pike” that no-one has performed before.

And Daley will be hoping it serves him well as he looks to take his first steps to qualifying for this summer’s Kazan World Championships on what will be a special occasion for him personally.

He told Press Association Sport: “It will be the first time I have dived in that pool since I moved away. I’m looking forward to going back there.

“Going back home and competing always means a lot. I’m looking forward to going back and seeing all my friends and family.”

As well as claiming individual gold at last summer’s Glasgow Commonwealth Games and silver at the subsequent Berlin European Championships, Daley also secured silver at the former in synchro alongside James Denny.

The pair then came fourth at the showpiece in Germany, and Daley has since put synchro “on the backburner”.

He said: “We put the partnership with James together mainly for the Commonwealth Games.

“Right now, it is about making sure I can get my new twister sorted and in shape, and synchro is on the backburner for me at the minute.

“I have to try to find someone who can do the same dive as me and be in the same training centre as me.

“But it is about making sure I can get myself individually sorted before I start really thinking about synchro again.”

Other notable names competing in this week’s event include Sarah Barrow and Tonia Couch, who will be teaming up in the 10m synchro and then going head-to-head in the individual version, in which Barrow is European champion.

Double Commonwealth gold-medallist Jack Laugher takes part in the 3m springboard, while Alicia Blagg and Rebecca Gallantree – also champions at Glasgow – will pair up once more for the 3m synchro.