Commonwealth Games 2022 LIVE: Laura Muir storms to 1500m gold after England win women’s hockey title

England’s Jack Laugher produced three nerveless and near-faultless final dives to clinch 1m springboard gold for a third successive Commonwealth Games. His surge to the top of the leaderboard saw teammate Jordan Houlden knocked off top spot and he was forced to settle for bronze as Australia’s Shixin Li took silver. Scotland’s James Heatley, whose grandfather won this event at the Vancouver 1954 Commonwealth Games, finished fourth.

Breaking report from Lawrence Ostlere at the Shandwell Aqautics Centre

GOLD for Jack Laugher!

He saves his best dive until last to score a stunning 80.85 on the Forward 3½ Somersaults, making it near impossible for anyone else to take his gold medal for the third Commonwealth Games in a row.

Australia’s Li, to his credit, produces a brilliant Forward 3½ Somersaults and receives the same score, but the damage had already been done.

It does secure him silver, though, ahead of Jordan Houlden. He gets his bronze with a 76.80 on the final Forward 2½ Somersaults 1 Twist.

1) Jack Laugher - 447.05

2) Shixin Li - 437.05

3) Jordan Houlden - 429.30

And now Laugher is showing why he has won the past two gold medals in this event at the Commonwealth Games.

On the Forward 2½ Somersaults 1 Twist, he lands another brilliant dive - scoring 76.80.

Houlden cannot keep up with the pace. A 64.50 on the Reverse 1½ Somersaults 2½ Twists is fine, but means Laugher storms ahead by 13.70 with one dive to go.

Australia’s Li has not given up hope, though. An outstanding Inward 2½ Somersaults is rewarded with 81.60, the score of the competition so far, and it is enough for second place. He is 10 points behind Laugher with one dive to go.

Brilliant from Laugher! Past the halfway stage now, he nails the Inward 2½ Somersaults and lands a lovely score of 79.90.

It puts the pressure on Houlden but a score of 67.20 on the Reverse 2½ Somersaults isn’t enough!

Laugher takes the lead with two dives to go but it’s so close, the England team-mates are only separated by 1.40 points in the standings.

Laugher apparently struggled with his next dive - the Reverse 2½ Somersaults in the prelims - and a score of 64.00 shows just why.

But a mistake on entry for Houlden means he can only score 60.00, so Laugher is still able to cut the lead.

Houlden is 11.30 points ahead, with Knight-Wisdom in third place 25.80 behind.

That’s more like it from Laugher, who ups the difficulty and scores a 76.50 on a Reverse 1½ Somersaults 2½ Twists.

But Houlden beats it again! It’s 79.20 for the Englishman, whose Forward 3½ Somersaults was again ranked harder than Laugher’s.

But it’s Laugher’s team-mate Jordan Houlden who goes top with a daring opening dive, his hardest of the six! Houlden gets a 81.60 to take an early lead, and in fact Australia’s Shixin Li goes above Laugher as well.

We’re underway in the opening diving final of the week at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre. The 1m springboard is not an Olympic event, so it’s quite special to the Commonwealth Games.

As well as Jack Laugher, England have Jordan Houlden in the final while Scotland have a trio involved in James Heatly, Danny Mabbott and Ross Beatie.

The 1m springboard means some divers, such as Jamaica’s 6ft 2 star Yona Knight-Wisdom actually touch the water before they launch off.

Knight-Wisdom gets a 67.50, but Laugher goes top of the leaderboard early on with a 69.00, even though it’s a bit of a warm-up dive for him.

All eyes are on Jack Laugher tonight as the Englishman competes in the 1m springboard final, the first of 12 diving finals to take place in Birmingham. It’s a title Laugher won both at Glasgow 2014 and Gold Coast 2018, so he’s aiming for his third straight gold medal.

England’s flagbearer revealed he wants to win gold for his grandmother Bernice, who died earlier this summer.

“It’s been a very emotional time,” Laugher said. “She followed my career so closely and when I went to her home recently, I saw all the photographs she had up of my achievements. I want to do this for her.”

Full time!

Well that was fun, but England don’t get the result they were looking for - despite winning 10-2 in the end.

England really wanted to win by 14 goals in order to avoid Australia in the semi-finals.

Australia have won seven gold medals in a row in the men’s hockey and England will look to end that run of dominance tomorrow.

Meanwhile, England’s women will face New Zealand in their semi-final.