Scottish duo Grace Reid and James Heatly add European silver to Commonwealth gold

Britain's James Heatly and Grace Reid with their silver medals on the podium after the Mixed 3M Springboard final at the European Aquatics Championships in Rome . Picture: Clive Rose/Getty

Scottish divers Grace Reid and James Heatly made it three medals as a duo together on the big stage this summer by securing silver in the European Aquatics Championships in Rome.

Going into the mixed 3m synchro in the Italian sunshine, the Edinburgh duo had won a bronze at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, in the same event a couple of months ago representing Great Britain.

And then, just last Monday, they had struck gold in the same event for Team Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Back in Great Britain colours, they had a good start to this week on Monday when they joined up with Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Noah Williams to take a bronze in the team event.

That podium finish clearly got rid of any fatigue they might have been feeling after a hectic schedule because they put in another cracking performance here.

From their five dives in the mixed 3m synchro event they finished on 290.76 points to beat the World silver medallists from Italy – Chiara Pellacani and Matteo Santoro – into third (283.56).

However, the German team of Tina Punzel and Lou Massenberg (294.69) were just too strong on this occasion and took gold.

Reid, 26, said: “It has been such a long season for James and I, so to put in that kind of consistent performance in this event and to be walking away with a silver, I am just so pleased.

“Both of us were just looking to have a bit of fun and relax so to come away with a second place finish is really good.

“The [very humid] conditions [in an outdoor arena] are not conditions we have trained in recently and when you are up there you actually have to wet the board otherwise it feels like it would burn your feet, but everyone is in the same boat. You just have to adapt and I think we have done that pretty well.”

Heatly, 25, added: “To win a World bronze, a Commonwealth gold and now a European silver together in recent months is a brilliant feeling.

“I am done for the event now, but Grace has her individual women’s 3m event to come [on Friday] and she is looking really good so hopefully this result can help her go into that one feeling confident.”

Meanwhile, Spendolini-Sirieix followed up her Commonwealth Games success for England by topping the podium in the women’s 10m platform event just after Reid and Heatly’s silver.

The 17-year-old won gold after a brilliant final dive and was in tears during the medal ceremony. She scored 76.80 points with her last dive in the final to overhaul Ukraine’s Sofiia Lyskun and finish with a total of 333.60.

Her Great Britain compatriot Lois Toulson finished in sixth place with a total of 295.70 points.

Spendolini-Sirieix was one of Team England’s breakout stars at Birmingham 2022, landing two golds and

a silver.

“It is a bit crazy, I just wanted to have fun in this event and I had no expectations,” she said yesterday.

“I was nervous going into the final, but I think I was nervous because I wanted to do well and I’m just very glad that I did.

“To be a Commonwealth champion and now a European champion, I could not have done this by myself and I want to thank everyone,” added Spendolini-Sirieix.