Champion divers on all-time highs
Australia's diving world championship gold medallists said the victories in Barcelona last week were the highlights of their careers.
Squad members Irina Lashko and Mathew Helm spoke to the South China Morning Post after dazzling fans in the Credit Suisse Privilege International Super Stars Diving and Synchronised Swimming Extravaganza at Kowloon Park Pool at the weekend.
'The older you get the more you appreciate winning the big prizes - last week was definitely special,' said Lashko, who won her second World Championships gold in the 1-metre springboard event.
The 30-year-old former Russian athlete, who also won the 1-metre springboard gold for her birth nation at the 1998 World Championships, already has her mind set on Olympic glory for Australia next summer.
'I won the 3-metre springboard silver medal at Barcelona and at Atlanta - it's such an unpredictable sport, but taking gold in Greece would be the icing on the cake,' said Lashko, who married an Australian in 1998.
Lashko said the Hong Kong exhibition event was 'unique'. Fans saw her execute the 1-metre dive that won her gold at the start of the show.
'Its my first time taking part in such a show, and I'm enjoying every minute of it,' she said. 'It's unusual for us to dive in front of fans in such a relaxed and fun atmosphere. Usually it is more tense and we are all concentrating so much.'
Despite the informality, Lashko said the diving and synchronised swimming performances were top quality and some of the dives seen were of elite competition standard.
Helm said his and dive partner Robert Newbery's 10-metre synchronised platform gold in Spain had 'exceeded all expectations'.
The pair have beaten main rivals China twice this year in the 10-metre synchronised event (the other was the G.P. China Cup).
'We have a good chance to win the gold in Greece. But synchronised is tough - the judges punish you if you are even slightly out of synch with your partner,' said Helm, who revealed that he and Newbery had only settled on the dive that won them gold a few weeks before the competition.
