Australia's Matthew Mitcham has conceded that he didn't dive to the best of his ability in the first diving session of the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
The four-day diving event got underway with the men's 1m springboard preliminaries at Edinburgh's Royal Commonwealth Pool today, and Mitcham eased into the final with the second-best score, but was more than 50 points behind England's Jack Laugher.
A former Olympic champion on the 10m platform, Mitcham, who won four medals including the 1m springboard at the last Games in Delhi, wants to win Commonwealth gold for the first time.
Speaking exclusively to Sports Mole after the prelims, Mitcham said: "I came second in this event in Delhi so I guess I do have expectations of doing quite well, but then again I also have to remember that I don't usually do springboard.
"I'm competing against springboard specialists, like Jack Laugher who just won a medal at the World Championships for springboard, so while I do enjoy this event, I'm not a springboard diver naturally."
Mitcham and English trio Laugher, Chris Mears and Freddie Woodward look set to battle for the medals this evening and Mitcham is confident of improving.
"I don't think I dived my best. I dived consistently, but certainly not my best," he added. "Hopefully it will be an even more interesting competition tonight, for the spectators anyway.
"I'd like it to just be an easy win, but what's the fun in that?"
Mitcham has entered the same four events in which he won silver four years ago. The only event in which he does not compete is the individual 3m springboard.
Pascal Lemesre
