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Aussies claim shock mixed diving gold

Last-minute replacements Lara Tarvit and Nicholas Jeffree have won a shock 10m mixed synchro diving gold medal for Australia at the Gold Coast Grand Prix.

Lara Tarvit.
Lara Tarvit (pic) and Nicholas Jeffree have won 10m mixed synchro gold at the Gold Coast Grand Prix. (AAP)

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Source: AAP


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Last-minute replacements Lara Tarvit and Nicholas Jeffree won a shock 10m mixed synchro diving gold medal for Australia on Saturday at the Gold Coast Grand Prix.

The odd couple made a perfect match within hours of answering a team SOS after Australia's top-ranked Melissa Wu pulled out due to injury, leaving partner Domonic Bedggood stranded.

Tarvit and Jeffree had never competed together before.

Jeffree wasn't even supposed to be diving on Saturday but luckily had arrived at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre on a day off.

Incredibly, the last-gasp pairing clicked, snatching the gold from Malaysia's Yiwei Chew and Jun Hoong Cheong with the final dive.

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The shocks kept coming with Australia's Joshua Kehagias upstaging Beijing Olympic champion Matthew Mitcham to win 3m springboard silver.

Mitcham was fourth.

But as far as surprises went, Australia's 10m mixed gold was hard to beat.

Alarm bells sounded in the Australian camp when captain Wu pulled out of the mixed final due to a neck complaint.

Needing a new pairing, Tarvit and Jeffree were asked to compete.

"We had no preparation, just threw some dives together in warm-up and tried to do the best we could with limited preparation," Tarvit said.

"I didn't have any idea where we were sitting in the ranking."

Jeffree added: "I didn't even know I was competing today - I had a day off.

"I didn't have any expectations."

They finished with 274.32 points, just ahead of their Malaysian rivals (271.86).

Kehagias stole the spotlight from Mitcham in the men's 3m springboard final.

"I definitely wasn't expecting any of this - I was shaking the whole way," said Kehagias who finished behind China's Bowen Huang.

"I had to calm myself down for the last two dives - this is the best diving I've ever done."

Due to her neck injury, Wu struggled in the 10m platform final, finishing last in the six-strong field led by China's Siyu Ji.

China won three of the five gold medals on offer on Saturday.

Ji teamed up with Yaying Ding to win 10m synchro gold, while Germany's Stephan Feck and Patrick Hausding won the men's 3m springboard synchro final.

The Gold Coast Grand Prix ends on Sunday with another five gold medals up for grabs.


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