Tom Daley called on nations who outlaw homosexuality to relax their stance as he starred on a golden day for English diving at the Commonwealth Games on Friday. Jack Laugher sealed a hat-trick of gold medals after Daley had overcome a hip injury to seal victory the 10-metre platform synchro.
Olympic champions Laugher and Chris Mears were only 18.15 points off their winning total from the 2016 Rio Games as they won the three-metre springboard synchro with a total of 436.17 points. Canada's Philippe Gagne and Francois Imbeau-Dulac took silver on 415.23 while Australians Domonic Bedggood and Matthew Carter claimed the bronze on 408.12.
Laugher had already won the one-metre and three-metre springboard this week, while Daley's victory with Daniel Goodfellow pushed England's diving total to four golds. Olympic bronze medallists Daley and Daniel Goodfellow held off team-mates Matthew Dixon and Noah Williams to win the 10-metre platform synchro.
"I have dived brilliantly over the last three days, but it hasn't been easy at all," said Laugher. "I've had to dive really well to get these titles "There's a lot pressure," he added. "When you're Olympic champion, people expect you to win and that's difficult." The highlight was a score of 92.43 for their penultimate dive - a difficult forward 2-1/2 somersaults 3 twists.
World champion Daley has been battling a hip injury that ruled him out of the individual 10-metre platform and almost ended his Games. But after winning gold on Friday, Daley called out 37 Commonwealth countries for their anti-gay laws, urging them to change before the 2022 Birmingham Games.