British diver Jack Laugher missed out on a gold medal at the 2019 FINA World Aquatics Championships on Thursday and had to settle for bronze following a disastrous slip in the final.
Laugher was on the cusp of making history in Gwangju, South Korea, and looked set to challenge for the world record in the men’s three-metre individual springboard event before a horror last dive.
Laughter spoke to BBC Sport after a dive that he said made him feel “dead inside” and added:
“That’s going to haunt me for the rest of my life. I don’t really know what went wrong on the last dive. I felt like it was right and correct just like the semi-finals but I made exactly the same mistake again.
”I had it in my hands with a 30 point lead and I think I’m going to start javelin because I’m great at throwing. I shouldn’t be too hard on myself but I’ve punched a wall like an idiot and I have been laughing and crying and don’t know how to feel at the moment.”
“I feel I’ve let a lot of people down, I know I haven’t but it really upsets me to know I could have done something special and I could have made history.”
Laugher will still travel to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as one of two British divers in the three-metre springboard.
