Grace Reid looking forward to competing alongside Tom Daley
Edinburgh’s Reid, who turned 20 on Monday, will continue to push her case for Olympics selection over the coming days in the iconic London Aquatics Centre.
With the British Championships – after which the Olympic team will be picked – taking place in Sheffield next month she knows this week will be key preparation.
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Hide AdIn London, Reid is competing in the one-metre springboard individual event and also the three-metre mixed synchro event tomorrow.
Then, on Saturday, she will be competing in the three-metre springboard individual event.
Reid headed down south at the weekend having just finished her first year at Edinburgh University.
She said: “It has been a really busy few months with the Rio World Cup and then my exams, but I have been loving it and training has been going really well heading into London.
“I think what the event in Brazil back in February taught me is not to worry about the big names you are competing against, but just concentrate on your own dives.
“Whether you are doing the dive in training in an empty pool or whether there is a lot of people watching and TV cameras there the process has to remain the same.
“In the last 12 months or so I have added some new dives to my repertoire and being able to try them out in bigger events has been good for me. I am feeling pretty good about where I am at the moment and will use this meet in London to give me extra preparation ahead of the British Championships.”
As mentioned, for tomorrow’s mixed synchro event Reid, who has previously competed in two Commonwealth Games, has been paired up with British diving’s poster boy Daley.
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Hide AdIt will be the first time she has competed with the 21-year-old Olympic medallist, but she does have previous success in the event to build on.
Last year, along with fellow Scot James Heatly, they claimed a well-deserved bronze medal in their World Series debut also in London. Although it will be a busy Wednesday tomorrow, Reid is excited to see how she gets on with Daley.
“I was down in London training for three days recently with Tom and it went well. We know each other from various squads and things before and we just had to try and gel quickly and get as much training under our belts as we could,” the Knight Frank-supported athlete said.
“In the synchro event you have to focus on your own dive first and if you both do that well then the timing and the link-up will come from there.
“Doing well with James last year has given me more confidence when it comes to synchro diving and it is also really exciting to be involved in a wider meet that also has swimming and synchronised swimming at it.”