The final leg of the 2009 Individual World Championships in Dean's Blue Hole, Long Island, Bahamas was an interesting mix of daring and conservatism. In both the men's and particularly women's categories, there were clear and easy contenders for gold and silver, but extremely stiff competition for bronze and the next ranking positions, with some National Record announcements meaning that divers could well now be pushing their limits and taking big risks for the chance of a medal and glory.

The big surprise of the day, for me at least, was Natalia's announcement. I had been expecting at least 102m from her, but I guess, either having learned from her last WC when she and I went head to head and I came out on top because she blacked out, or due to a lack of opportunity for deep diving since September, or maybe she never intended to take her extend her depths beyond her current 101m, she made a surprisingly shallow announcement of 97m. I wish I knew what lay behind that choice of depth - was it coincidence that it was just 1m deeper than my World Record? or is that her comfort depth.