JACK LAUGHER enjoyed a successful start to the year as he teamed up with new partner Dan Goodfellow to win gold in the 3m synchro event at the British National Diving Cup in Plymouth.

The Ripon diver, who was one of the stars of last year’s Commonwealth Games, has teamed up with Goodfellow after his long-term partner, Chris Mears, opted to take a year out of the sport.

The British Nationals represented their first competitive outing together, and they enjoyed a comfortable success as they posted a score of 387.99 to top the standings.

The Leeds-based duo’s best dive saw them claim 84.36 points for a successful forward four-and-a-half somersault routine, but while Laugher was reasonably happy with their efforts, he is confident there is more to come with the opening World Series event of the year looming.

“Individually, we did some cracking dives, but unfortunately I don’t think it was a true reflection of how we’ve been doing in the synchronised element of the event,” said Laugher. “We scored some amazing eights and eight-and-a-halves, but we just need to bring that together and I’m hoping it’ll come together really well for the World Series.”