Noah Williams said he was “pretty shocked” after snatching a bronze medal with his last two dives in a thrilling men’s 10 metre platform final contest.
The 24-year-old produced a brilliant comeback to challenge for a podium place towards the end of the competition after appearing out of contention. His achievement was made all the more remarkable after he only scraped into Saturday’s showpiece following a 12th-place finish in the semi-final, where he secured his spot by 0.25 points.
Finishing in the last qualifying place meant Williams started first in each round of the final, something he believes worked in his favour.
He said: “I’m pretty shocked. I don’t feel like I didn’t deserve to get into the final. I feel I am among those boys, like last year [in the] world championships I came fourth, this year I came seventh.
“I actually think it played in my advantage going first so I could only focus on myself. Even though I was following someone, there’s a minute break between each round so it was just like training almost, go up there by myself, stand on the 10m for a while. It worked today so I can’t complain.”
Williams had looked set to miss out on a spot on the podium after some over-rotation on his fourth dive caused him to drop into fifth place. However, he delivered a brilliant response with scores of 93.60pts and 94.35 on his final two dives which, combined with other results working in his favour, saw him secure third place.
Williams said he thought after the fourth dive that his competition was over. “I knew I’d messed up and I was like ‘that’s it, it’s over’,” he added. “I wasn’t doing the fifth and sixth dive in my head like: ‘Let’s chase that medal again.’ I’d messed up and was like: ‘I’ve got my best two dives last, which is why they’re there, I’ll just try and do them well.’ But I wasn’t thinking about medals at all.”
Cao Yuan claimed gold, meaning China take a clean sweep of all diving gold medals at this Games, while Japan’s Rikuto Tamai finished with silver. Williams’ teammate Kyle Kothari had to settle for an 11th-placed finish.
This is Williams’ second medal of Paris 2024 after taking silver with Tom Daley in the men’s 10m platform synchronised event. He is the only British diver to have claimed an individual medal at the Games in Paris, with his silver alongside Daley bolstered by three synchro bronzes for Britain in other disciplines.
Williams dedicated his medal to his former coach Dave Jenkins, who died in 2021, and opened up about his mental health struggles.
He said: “My mental health’s always been pretty bad. I’ve struggled for a long time; I’ve been on anti-depressants for a few years, so even without the grieving of Dave, my coach, I think it’s just something I have to live with.
“I’m just sad quite a lot of the time, but that doesn’t stop me from getting up and training because one of the only times I’m not sad is when I’m competing. I was happy during this event and in synchro. I guess it’s my form of therapy, competing.”
