Grace Reid can use Tom Daley link-up as springboard

Great Britain's Tom Daley and Grace Reid celebrate with their gold medals after winning the 3m Synchro Diving Mixed final at the European Aquatics Championships in London. Picture: John Walton/PA Wire

The 20-year-old Edinburgh University student was paired up with the Olympic medalist for the first time ever in the three-metre mixed synchro event and they had only trained together a handful of times.

Reid had also competed in the one-metre springboard individual event earlier in the evening, finishing seventh and having around 20 minutes before she had to get back out in front of the crowd again.

However, she dusted herself down quickly and put in some cracking dives with 21-year-old Daley as they finished ahead of rival pairs from Italy and  Russia to grab the gold medal.

Although not an Olympic event, the performance will have given Reid heart as she continues to try to earn an individual spot at the Rio Games later this year.

Leeming said: “I was very impressed with the way that Grace handled the whole situation on Wednesday.

“It was a very busy day and a tough one both mentally and physically, but she came through with flying colours.

“I wanted her to go out in the one-metre individual event and really push the boundaries and see what she is capable of. She made one slight error to drop down to seventh, but I am greatly enthused by what she did and the potential to improve that is there.

“It was then a quick turnaround, but when you are diving with one of the best around like Tom Daley you just cannot wait to get going and she was soon back in the zone and ready to dive.

“Earlier this month Grace and myself came to London for a brief stint to train with Tom and his coach Jane [Figueiredo] and we had to pack in as much work as we could.

“The four of us worked pretty well together and the other night I was so proud of the way Grace held things together as a medal got closer.

“To see her on the podium was great and it will have given her a boost.”

Reid was back in the training pool yesterday getting ready for her three-metre springboard individual event which takes place tomorrow.

She did have time to enjoy the gold medal-winning feeling though, and said: “It was a really good day for me and I didn’t get much sleep afterwards because I was buzzing.

“There’s a lot to take away from Wednesday and hopefully I can continue to build on it this season.”

Daley added: “Grace and I were put together 10 days ago and we’ve done about five sessions together so I’m over the moon to come away as European champions on a board that I never train on.

“It was great to have the home crowd and our families in the audience and Grace did really well, we are chuffed.”