Aidan Heslop wins first FINA high diving title to secure World Championships spot
- Published
Aidan Heslop celebrates victory alongside runner-up Catalin-Petru Preda (L) and bronze medallist Constantin Popovici (R)
Aidan Heslop won his first FINA high diving event in Abu Dhabi to qualify for the 2022 World Championships.
The 19-year-old was in second place at the halfway point but produced the hardest dive ever attempted in competition to win in the final round.
With the rest of the top 16 competitors in Abu Dhabi all aged 29 or over, the win highlighted the teenager's talent.
Heslop will now contest the men's 27m high diving event at May's FINA World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
He competed for Team Wales in the 10m platform at the 2018 Commonwealth Games when Heslop was just 15.
Since then he has had surgery on his wrist and endured months out of his local pool in Plymouth after it was closed in the initial Covid-19 outbreak, and then remained shut for urgent repair works.
But after returning to training and full fitness, Heslop is now targeting both the World Championships in high diving and a second Commonwealth Games at the 10m platform in 2022.
He is also hoping to secure a permanent spot on the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series after appearing at previous events as a wildcard.