SHOEBURY diving sensation Tyler Humphreys will represent England after a terrific performance in the British Junior Elite finals in Sheffield.

The 12-year-old Southend Diving star triumphed to book his place in the summer’s Bimbingamba International Meet in Rome between July 26 and July 31, with the rest of the England Talent Squad.

Competing in a number of events, Tyler first took part in the three-metre synchronized dive with partner Angus Kerr. After five dives, the duo finished in second to win a silver medal.

On the second day of competition, it was three-metre spring board competition and Tyler finished top of the scoreboard in the preliminary round with 332.30, finishing second overall.

In the one-metre platform, Tyler finished second (305.9) in the preliminary rounds, finishing fourth in the final.

But he wasn’t finished there, as he secured a bronze medal in the platform.

The medals were the first British Junior honours for Southend Diving under their new coaching team of Shan Veasey and Charles Calvert, who took over in April.

And Tyler said he was pleased with the progress he had made.

“Raffa (Benitez) was already 20 points ahead of me in one of the finals so it was virtually impossible to catch him so I’m very happy where I came,” he said.

“Also I was concentrating more on my preliminary scores as the top two boys in Group C elites get chosen to compete in Rome for England and my combined prelim scores on all three boards was 939.65, putting me first overall.”

Dad James said Tyler did so well to top the board, especially considering the age of some of the other divers.

“It was a tough group this year as most of the divers in the group were a year older and, at that age, it’s a massive difference so for Tyler to do as well as he did is amazing.

“I also want to thank Shoeburyness High School deputy Headteacher Mr Williams for letting him out of school early on Wednesdays and Fridays to train in the afternoon.”

British Diving Talent and Development Manager Julian Bellan said: “Following a few years of concern with a lack of depth in our boys disciplines, the initiative was taken to actively pursue and recruit boys in our talent id programs.

“Among the standout divers across all events were Holly (Waxman) and Louise (Bradley) in the girls and Tyler and Alfie (Brown) in the boys.”