At just 26 years old, it seems too young for James Heatly to be talking about a comeback season.
But such are the standards he’s set for himself, and with his past season being something of a disappointment for the Edinburgh man, that’s exactly how Heatly views his coming campaign.
Despite picking up a silver medal in the mixed synchro at the European Games in June, the rest of his year has been below par for someone who, in 2022, became Commonwealth Games champion and also won World Championships silverware.
And so that’s why, with the first significant event of his new season now upon him, Heatly is very much looking to recapture the form that saw him compete with, and beat, some of the very best in the world.
Over the next four days, the Scottish National Diving Championships incorporating the British Diving Cup take place at the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Heatly’s home city of Edinburgh meaning the divers are in the unusual position of competing for both Scottish and British titles simultaneously.
It will, however, give Heatly the perfect opportunity to signal to all that he’s ready to rekindle the form that ensured he was a regular in the GB team, although he’s very much playing down the impact competing in his home pool may have over the coming days.
“Last season wasn’t the best for me so I’m looking forward to this being a comeback season,” he says.
“I’m feeling quietly confident. It’s still very early in the season so things aren’t perfect but I’m feeling good.
“I don’t think you get too much of a home advantage because a diving board is a diving board but I do like being able to sleep in my own bed so I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do.”
There is no shortage of star power in Edinburgh over the next four days, with the best Britain has to offer all making the trip north.
Likely to grab many of the headlines is Tom Daley, who will make his comeback after a two-year break from the sport after becoming Olympic champion in 2021 while also in action will be Daley’s fellow Olympic gold medallists, Matty Lee and Jack Laugher, as well as Heatly’s Team Scotland squadmate, Grace Reid.
Such quality across the board is an indication of the health of British diving and it’s exactly why Heatly is suffering from more than a few nerves heading into this competition.
With the World Diving Championships taking place in February, considerably earlier in the season than is typical, this weekend’s event doubles as the trials for GB’s World Championship team.
Making the British team is no formality for Heatly, or any of the other men who’ll grace the boards in Edinburgh, however, which is something the Scot is acutely aware of.
“I want to be at the World Championships so to do that, it looks like I’ll need to be in the top two this weekend,” says Heatly, who will compete in his specialty event of the 3m individual springboard, as well as the 1m individual and 3m men’s synchro alongside Englishman, Ross Haslam.
“I definitely still get nerves at a competition like this.
“The standard of men’s diving in Britain is so ridiculously high – it’s harder to make the British team than it is to make a world or Olympic final which means our Nationals are the most stressful part of the entire year in a lot of ways.
“There’s six of us going for two spots in the team and we all have the capability to do well.
“So I’m looking forward to this weekend starting, but I’m also very much looking forward to it being over.”
While the next few days are undeniably vital for Heatly, his ultimate goal over the coming months is to ensure he makes it to the Olympic Games in Paris, which are now less than eight months away.
Having been a part of Team GB for Tokyo 2020, competing in the 3m springboard, Heatly has had a taste of both the qualification process, and the Games themselves.
But as valuable as that experience is, Heatly admits it’s not always easy to block out distractions in the shape of his GB compatriots who are also fighting tooth and nail for a seat on the plane to Paris next summer.
“It’s easier said than done to focus only on myself when the stakes are so high,” he says.
“In-competition, I’m pretty good at not thinking about what anyone else is doing but in the build-up is when it can be hard.
“So between events, I’m a bit more aware than I should be of what others are doing but on the day, I do well at just focusing on myself and hopefully that’ll be the same again in Edinburgh.”
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