Royal Navy diver ends 20-year title drought at Inter Services diving championships
The Royal Navy have made a triumphant splash back into the diving pool with their first win at the Inter Services diving championships in 20 years.
Able Seaman Josh Freeman topped the standings in the men's competition in Aldershot, spearheading the Navy's return to the championship after their absence at last year's event.
AB Freeman saw off competition from divers from the Army, including last year's champion Chris Taylor and former junior national diver Jamie McConnell.
Originally hailing from Plymouth, AB Freeman displayed his own pedigree in the pool after he initially quit the sport during the Covid pandemic.
The Gosport-based sailor made a return to the sport when he joined the Royal Navy.
"It was Covid really," he explained. "Down in Plymouth we had a problem with the pool, then we had Covid and we were travelling up to Southampton every weekend, and it just made it very difficult to train.
"So I thought I'd give it in and went to join the Navy, finding out that I could still dive which was brilliant news."
Plymouth Diving Club is where AB Freeman used to train alongside Olympic gold medalist Tom Daley.
"Yeah I used to see him train," he recalled. "But as I was coming through and as I was getting a bit better and actually getting involved in diving, he started to leave.
"So I've seen him a few times training with them, but I was never in his group or anything like that."
Meanwhile, in the women's competition, last year's winner Corporal Charlotte Goodman successfully defended her title.
The Frimley Park-based biomedical scientist saw off competition from Army diver Charlie Musgrave, who leapt to successive Inter Services titles and is hoping for a hat-trick of titles in 2025.
She said: "It's just such a fun competition and everyone's so lovely, so I just had the best time.
"Hopefully I'm going to keep training in the year and we'll see what happens next year."
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