JACK LAUGHER is hoping this week’s European Aquatics Championships will enable him to confirm his wellbeing ahead of the start of the Olympics.

The Ripon diver was being touted as a potential medallist at Rio after he claimed the overall 3m springboard title in last year’s World Series, an achievement that marked him down as a genuine rival to the Chinese contingent that have historically dominated his sport.

However, Laugher suffered a significant blow at the start of this year when he scraped a large amount of skin from the top of his right foot after catching it on a diving board during training for the National Championships.

The injury hampered his training during the first two months of the year, but having been able to step up his workload in the last few weeks, the 21-year-old is determined to put on a good show at the Europeans, which are being staged at the Olympic Aquatic Centre in London.

Laugher will compete in the 3m individual springboard and the 3m synchro this week, and regards the competition as a key staging post on his road to the Olympics.

“I’m in a bit of a weird place because my off-season was completely ruined by the injury,” said the North Yorkshireman. “I’ve been battling against all the odds and it’s been difficult, but that’s not to say it won’t all come together for the Olympics, so I’m still feeling very confident.”

As well as winning last year’s World Series, Laugher also claimed bronze medals in both the individual and synchro events at the World Championships in Kazan, and along with fellow former Olympian Tom Daley, he had been expected to be one of the figureheads of what should be a strong British diving squad in Rio.

He has still two months in which to hone his skills ahead of the Games, but accepts his injury problems have left him playing catch-up at a crucial stage of the Olympic cycle.

A strong showing this week would provide a timely morale boost, and with the field lacking the leading divers from the Far East, the two-time Commonwealth gold medallist should be challenging for at least a place on the podium in both of his events.

He will have to handle the pressure of performing in front of an expectant home crowd, but feels the demands that will be made of him this week are an ideal warm-up with the Olympics looming.

“The Europeans are a massive competition for us,” he said. “At the Olympics, there’s always so much pressure, and with all of the crowd in London, we’ll effectively be replicating that, which is great experience.”

The London pool was the scene of one of Laugher’s biggest disappointments, with the then teenager producing a horror dive in the preliminary round of the London Olympics and failing to progress to the final.

He freely admits it took him a while to get over the experience, but he returned to London’s Olympic Park 12 months ago to claim an impressive World Series silver medal along with his long-time synchro partner Chris Mears.

“It’s a brilliant pool, and to come second last year was amazing given Chris suffered a slipped disc the week before,” said Laugher.

Mears and Laugher train together in Leeds, and have spent the last few weeks perfecting a key new dive that could prove crucial to their hopes of claiming a medal in Rio.

The forward two-and-a-half somersaults with three twists is one of the most difficult dives being attempted anywhere in the world at the moment, and while it comes with risks attached, it could give the British pair a major advantage come the summer provided they can execute it successfully.

“This dive in synchro has the highest degree of difficulty anyone has used,” said Mears. “It’s a big deal in the world of diving.

“It has this big number and everyone sees it as a big risk, but because of our training, it is actually fairly safe – we can perform it well, consistently.

“We debuted it at the Rio test event and I think we scared quite a lot of people with it, which is what we intended to do. We wanted to show we are contenders for a medal at the Games, and if everything comes together, we can do better than bronze.”

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NICOLA WILSON’S hopes of competing in a second successive Olympics suffered a blow at the weekend as she failed to achieve the required qualifying standard at the Badminton Horse Trials.

Wilson, who is from Morton-on-Swale and claimed a team silver medal in the three-day event at London 2012, was partnering One Two Many at Badminton.

However, the pair were forced to retire during a gruelling cross-country that saw a host of leading horses drop out of contention.

Reigning World and Olympic champion Michael Jung claimed the Badminton title on La Biosthetique, with five British riders achieving the Olympic qualifying standard.

Gemma Tattersall, Zara Tindall, Tina Cook, Izzy Taylor and Ben Way were all within the qualifying mark, with the Olympic team due to be announced in July.

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KAT DRISCOLL will continue her Olympic preparations when she competes in a World Cup event in Shanghai this weekend.

The trampolinist, who is from West Rainton and a member of the Apollo Trampoline Club in Washington, recently claimed a team gold and individual bronze at the European Championships, and is almost certain to be one of the two British women selected to compete in Rio this summer.

She is in China along with team-mates Pamela Clark and Bryony Page, with the event forming part of the selection process currently being overseen by British Gymnastics.