Tanya Watson has become the first ever Irish female diver to qualify for the Olympics.
The 19-year-old finished in 16th place in the preliminaries for the 10-metre Platform at the FINA Diving World Cup in Tokyo on Tuesday morning.
The result sees her progress to the semi-finals and secures her places at the Tokyo Olympics this summer.
She finished with a score of 271.85 points at the event in the Japanese capital.
Primarily based at the Southampton Diving Academy in England under the expert eye of Lindsey Fraser, Watson has spent much of her time in this period training at National Centre (Dublin) under Ireland’s National Head Coach for Diving, Damian Ball, and alongside Oliver Dingley and Clare Cryan.
Reflecting on an unforgettable moment, Watson said: “It has been a really emotional time for me and I just got it together at the right time.
“After this last year, from everything being postponed, and living away from home for so long, I am very grateful that I was able to qualify Ireland a spot for the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
“It wasn’t perfect, I need to work on dive two [of five], but I am excited for the semi-finals and for what’s to come this summer.”
Watson added: “I cannot thank enough everyone who helped me get here.”
Meanwhile, Ciara McGing just missed out on automatic qualification finishing after finishing 23rd with a score of 240.95. She must now wait until mid-May to find out if she will be competing at the Olympics.
On Monday, Clare Cryan also missed the elusive spot in the Women’s 3m Springboard when she was 31st in the Prelims with 242.90.
