Shoebury diver Karen Smith travelled to Edinburgh for another round in the World Diving Grand Prix circuit - and returned with an unexpected medal.

The 23-year-old was laid up for two days in the Scottish capital with a cold virus, but went on to compete in the ten-metre tower event.

The Southend Diving Club member made the semi-finals with a respectable score, but got no further missing out on the final by just one place.

Karen joined forces with Leeds' diver Sally Freeman after her clubmate Anna Rusbatch pulled out through injury, and they entered as the second GB pair behind top-ranked Lesley Ward and Amanda Page, from Sheffield.

Synchro diving hasproved so successful in world diving for spectators and television that it has already been accepted into next year's Olympic programme.

Top nations are busy trying out pairs in international competition as part of their team build-up.

Karen was originally paired with Lesley with some initial success earlier in the year, but this was broken up by Sheffield coach Mike Edge. So the new pairing was watched with interest by all GB diving.

It proved to be a close-fought battle for third place behind China and Romania with Karen and Sally matching the other British pair dive for dive.

It went to the very last round with a narrow win over Lesley and Amanda by just two points to earn a superb bronze medal.

Not yet finished, Karen then competed on the three-metre springboard, making the semi-finals again with a personal best score and beating British number one Jane Smith of Sheffield quite comfortably.

Roles were reversed in the semi with Jane just having the edge on consistency to finish seventh against Karen's ninth.

Coach Bill Clark said: "Karen has benefited greatly from the increased number of events she has taken part in this year.

"She is developing a competition toughness that was missing nine months ago. She was physically below par in Edinburgh but still managed to compete well."

Karen now has a short break before the national senior championships in Sheffield between Thurs-day and Sunday.

These are doubling as trials for the European Championships in Istanbul at the end of the month.

l Karen has recently joined the Southend Sports Development team.

The new position allows her the flexibility to train regularly and travel to events while providing her with invaluable work experience in her own chosen field.

Karen said: "I am absolutely delighted because, although success in diving is a burning ambition, I also want a career to look forward to. It hasn't been easy.

"I really want to use the knowledge and skills acquired at Writtle University and joining the sports development team should give me that opportunity."

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