Australia's Domonic Bedggood has seen off a challenge from young England diver Matthew Dixon on the 10m platform to be crowned the new champion at the Commonwealth Games.
England's Tom Daley had arrived on the Gold Coast looking to make it a third consecutive win at the event but was forced to withdraw earlier this week due to injury, leaving a wide open field in the competition.
Seventeen-year-old Dixon and his synchro partner Noah Williams, who earned silver together yesterday, finished the top two in qualifying and Bedggood was quick to throw down the gauntlet to them in the final, scoring a massive 90 points for his opening dive, the armstand back double somersaults with 2-1/2 twists.
The Aussie followed that up with strong scores of 81.60 and 85.00 for his next two dives, while Dixon responded with an 82.50 for his back 3-1/2 to keep himself in contention.
Bedggood had a lead of almost 25 points over Dixon at that point, but average scores for his next two dives saw Dixon manage to sneak into the lead by the end of the penultimate round.
A showdown in the final round ensued and Bedggood was up first, scoring 70.20 for his back 2-1/2 with 2-1/2 twists to give him a final score of 451.15. It was always going to be a tough ask for Dixon, who had a lower tariff version of the dive, with just 1-1/2 twists, to come. A score of 67.20 followed to leave his overall total an agonising 1.6 points short.
Bronze went the way of experienced Canadian Vincent Riendau, whose score of 425.40 was comfortably ahead of Williams's 405.85.
In the absence of Daley, Matty Lee - 10m champ at the inaugural European Games in 2015 - had been considered one of the favourites for the title but he had a night to forget, scoring a terrible 33.60 for his opening dive and never managing to recover.
Elsewhere, Scotland's Lucas Thomson and 15-year-old Welsh diver Aidan Heslop finished fifth and sixth respectively.
Neil Wilkes
