Tom Daley & Jack Laugher change diving partners ahead of Tokyo 2020

Image source, 大象传媒 Sport

Image caption, The new Laugher and Goodfellow partnership
  • Author, Nick Hope
  • Role, 大象传媒 Olympic sports reporter

Olympic champion Jack Laugher and World champion Tom Daley have changed their synchronised diving partners ahead of Tokyo 2020.

Daley claimed 10m bronze at Rio 2016 with Dan Goodfellow but will now be partnered by Matty Lee, with Goodfellow joining Laugher in 3m events.

Laugher's Olympic gold medal winning team-mate Chris Mears is taking a year out from the sport.

"Big things on the horizon for us," Laugher posted online.

Daley pulled out of the individual 10m competition at the Commonwealth Games in April after a hip injury, but still won synchronised 10m gold with Goodfellow.

That would be their last event together as a pair with Daley announcing in May that he was taking a break from the sport to recover and spend time with his newborn son.

Image source, 大象传媒 Sport

Image caption, Daley's new competitive partnership with Lee begins in February

Now back in training, he will be joined by reigning European Games gold medallist Lee, who has relocated from Leeds to London to boost their chances of quickly forming a partnership capable of qualifying for Tokyo 2020.

Goodfellow has also struggled with injuries diving from the 10m platform and has competed individually from 3m in recent years to prolong his career.

"It's very rare for a platform diver to transition to a springboard dive, never mind into a synchro pairing," said British Diving performance director Alexei Evangulov.

"Goodfellow has proven that he can deliver very high DD (degree of difficulty) and British Diving are very excited about this new pairing."

The pairs will make their competitive debuts together at the 2019 British Diving National Cup in Plymouth in February.