TRAINING for six days a week has paid off for Bradford Esprit Club competitor Ruby Bower.

The 14-year-old continued her notable improvement to win a bronze medal at the European Junior Championships in Bergamo, despite having only dived outdoors once before at the Circuit Trophie de Barcelona.

Following several days of training and acclimatisation in Italy, Bower dived well in the platform preliminary round, finishing fourth with a new personal best of 326.35 points.

There were 12 divers in the final who all started on zero points and went in reverse order of their qualifying scores.

Bower was a steady third or fourth throughout but there was a heart-stopping moment when the last diver needed 53 points to take bronze from her but could only score 52.

The Bradford girl scored 334.35 for another personal best on what was her first trip as an experienced junior.

Bower, who has been a Bradford Esprit member for five years after being selected by a district-wide Schools' Talent Search and has been supported by Bradford Council's coaching team, qualified for Bergamo in May.

She won Group B at the Elite Junior National Championships with a score of 316.80 points, which was again a career best.

Esprit clubmate Holly Waxman will be competing at the Bingbingamba in Rome – an international competition – on July 15-17.