Just last month, Noah Penman was viewed as a young diver with a load of potential waiting to be fulfilled in the years ahead.
A week can make a big difference, though.
Against the odds, and defying all expectations, he’s now a major championships medallist and has begun to fulfil that potential far faster than anyone, including himself, ever thought possible.
Penman has long been identified as a diver with considerable talent.
Multiple national titles, as well as a brace of medals at last summer’s European Junior Championships, were a clear indication of Penman’s ability but few expected it to translate into major championships silverware quite so quickly, and especially not as soon as at last week’s European Championships, with the competition in Turkey being Penman’s first taste of any individual event at a senior major championship.
“Initially, I was just happy to be selected for the British team and to be at the Europeans at all,” says the 18-year-old, whose silver medal came in the 3m springboard event.
"So to actually come away with a medal was totally unexpected,
“When I realised I'd finished second, I was like, what?! Most of the other divers in the field had loads more experience than me and so to see my name in second place, I was pretty shocked. I was overjoyed, but it definitely didn't sink in straight away.”
Penman’s youth was amplified by the fact that the gold medalist at the European Championships was Andrzej Rzeszutek of Poland, who is 15 years his senior, but throughout the nerve-wracking final, Penman was almost entirely unaffected by nerves due to his ability to focus purely on the dive ahead of him.
“When I'm in the competition, I don't like to look at the scoreboard at all so in the final of the Europeans, I didn’t have a clue where I was in the standings,” he says. “I qualified for the final in second place and that's what gave me the belief I could do well in the final. Throughout the final, though, I wasn't checking the scoreboard but I did have a sense that it was going well. My penultimate dive was the best dive I'd done the entire competition and that's when I realised I had a great chance of being on the podium.”
A couple of days of celebration followed Penman’s medal-winning exploits but he’s quickly returned to competition mode, with the British Diving Championships beginning today in the West Midlands.
British Diving is currently experiencing a golden age, with the team bursting with world and Olympic medallist meaning despite Penman’s newly-acquired European silverware, he will still head into this week’s event as something of an underdog.
He’s reluctant to talk up his chances in the coming days, during which he’ll compete in both the 3m and 10m events, but given the form he’s in, it’s hardly surprising that he’s hopeful of springing a surprise.
“My European silver was a huge confidence boost for me and hopefully it doesn't put too much pressure on me,” he says.
“I'm really looking forward to the British although it’s a funny situation that you can go to the senior Europeans and get a silver medal, but still be up against quite a few guys who have achieved a lot more than that.
“I feel like I'm catching them, though, and I'm hoping to beat them in the future. And you never know, maybe even this weekend.”
Penman began his sporting career as a gymnast, representing Scotland at national level.
However, after being spotted by diving coaches during a tour of Aberdeenshire primary schools, he tried his hand at diving and he’s never looked back.
Penman is somewhat unusual in the elite diving sphere in that he competes in both 10m and 3m diving, with most divers having chosen to specialise in one or the other by this point in their career.
He admits that the duel focus can be testing, at times, but the variety, and the adrenaline rush that high diving brings, ensures he remains particularly motivated each day in training.
“I really don't know whether I'm best at 3-metre or 10-metre diving - training for both 3-metre and 10-metre does make it tough when most of my competitors are specialising in one or the other but I guess it's a good problem to be good at them both,” the teenager says.
“I still remember the first time I dived off a 10-metre board - I was looking down and I just loved it.
“Every single dive I do from a 10-metre board, I'm pretty scared. But actually, I like the adrenaline rush that being scared gives me and that really pushes me on.”
Penman has big ambitions for the coming years. Picking up more silverware at next month’s European Junior Championships is a definite goal, while his Olympic ambitions already loom large, with LA 2028 already marked in his calendar.
“My result at the Europeans has boosted my expectations for the rest of the season and I'll be going to the Junior Europeans next month hoping for medals,” he says.
“Looking further forward, the Olympics is definitely in my sights. Obviously, you never know what can happen in the next three years but LA 2028 is definitely my goal.”
