SHEFFIELD - TOM Daley, 14, helped Britain win their first gold in the Fina Diving World Series on Saturday.
He and Blake Aldridge, 25, took the competition's first maximum score of 10 for their second dive in the 10-metre platform synchronised event.
The pair then stayed in front throughout.
'That was a really good performance - the best we've ever done on our opening two required dives,' Daley said.
'It was a close final with some superb diving and plenty of drama. I'm pleased with the way we held it together.'
At the start of every dive, Aldridge whispered, 'One, two, three' to ensure they started together.
There was a slightly unnerving moment before their final and hardest dive, a back 21/2 somersault with 11/2 twists, as Daley noticed some blood on the take-off board.
It had been left by one of the Russian divers who had hit it with his foot as he descended from his initial jump.
But Aldridge wiped it with a towel and the show went on.
Next month, the pair will compete in the British trials, with a place in the synchronised event in the Beijing Olympics at stake.
Daley is the 10m platform individual European champion, who has already qualified for that event.
It is all a far cry from when he was younger, and he used to hide behind the platform pillars, too scared to dive even from the three-metre board, reported The Times.
