The two divers were competing for the first time together in Sheffield

Diver Tom Daley's first outing with new partner Max Brick proved disappointing as they finished last in Sheffield.

The pair's score of 411.84 left them well down the field in the final of the 10m synchro at the Fina World Series.

The result followed comments by the new head of British Diving performance that Daley's best chance of Olympic glory lies in the synchronised event.

The score bettered that of Daley and former partner Blake Aldridge in the Olympic final in Beijing.

And Daley was encouraged by the overall performance.

"I'd say it was a very good performance. To break the 400 barrier was our aim really," Daley said.

"We have only had one proper training session before the World Series and then we've done synchro all this week.

"I think it was our best performance of the week, it was just one missed dive. If we had of got that then we would have got 20-30 more points."

Chinese duo Cao Yuan, 14, and Zhang Yuanquan, 15, secured victory on their debut together, from Olympic silver medallists Sascha Klein and Patrick Hausding.

I know that in the world there are not so many like him New performance director Alexei Evangulov on Daley

New GB performance director Alexei Evangulov, the former Russia coach, described the 14-year-old as a "genius" and added: "I know that in the world there are not so many like him."

Daley recorded the best result of his career last month when he claimed individual bronze at the Fina World Series event in Changzhou, with a personal best score of 540.70.

However, despite his individual progress, Evangulov believes Daley's chances for London 2012 are better in the team discipline because the competition is not as strong.

606: DEBATE What do you make of the first result for Daley and Brick?

"The result in China was very good, but I am realistic and in three years in the platform we will have more competition than now," Evangulov said.

"Tom Daley is very strong also, but he is in very strong company," he said.

Before Saturday's result, Evangulov described Brick as "a very good and progressive diver".

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version