Britain’s Noah Williams pulled off a stunning final-round dive to take bronze in the men’s 10m platform and win his second medal of the Paris Olympics.
Errors by his rivals had opened up the podium positions going into the final round and Williams – who won 10m synchro silver with Tom Daley earlier in the Games – delivered a forward four and a half somersaults dive that scored 94.35 to give him a total of 497.35.
Cao Yuan defended his title in convincing fashion (547.50) to give China a clean sweep of the diving gold medals, with Japanese 17-year-old Rikuto Tamai getting the silver (507.65).
“It’s literally a dream – I said that last time with synchro but individually winning a medal, doing it yourself, is a whole other level and I don’t think it’s sunk in because I’m nowhere near as emotional as last time,” Williams told BBC Sport.
Britain’s Kyle Kothari finished 11th on his Games debut, above world champion Yang Hao who was out of sorts and came last in the 12-man final.
Williams had only just squeezed into the final after a below-par showing in the semi-finals, so was the first to dive in each round.
It meant he had a nervous wait after his brilliant final effort to see if it would be enough for a medal.
But when challengers including Mexican Randal Willars Valdez put in messy dives, Williams soon discovered he would be adding to what was Great Britain’s biggest diving medal haul at a Games.
After four synchro medals, this is Britain’s only individual diving medal.
Read More: Olympics diving: Noah Williams takes bronze in 10m platform
