CHRIS Mears is targeting more improvement after a disappointing performance at the British Gas Diving Championships.

Mears finished seventh in the 3m springboard after a below-par attempt with his new three-and-a-half somersault reverse dive.

“I’ve definitely had better days,” said Mears, who finished ninth in the London 2012 final. “My second dive, which is my new dive, really did not go to plan and I never really recovered mentally from that.

“There are some positive to take out of it, it was a new dive and I have a lot of respect for my prelim performance because I really drilled it there.

“I hope the selectors can see past this performance and look at past performances I’ve done, like last year at the Games. “They know I can perform and they know I’m going through a bit of a tough time learning these new dives so maybe they’ll see that. “If I don’t get any competitions at least I can spend more time at home and train on my dives. I know that in training I’ve been diving really well.”

Mears did not compete in the 3m synchro because Nick Robinson-Baker – with whom he finished fifth at London 2012 – was injured.

Jack Laugher, who failed to progress beyond the first round at the Olympics, defended his 3m title in Plymouth.

The 18-year-old was also the 1m springboard runner-up behind Oliver Dingley and ahead of third-placed Mears, who added: “I haven’t competed since the Olympics so it was a little bit weird being up there but I definitely enjoyed it. Alistair Khakoo, like Mears a member of the Southampton Diving Academy, was 14th out of 15 in the 3m preliminaries and was last in the 10m preliminaries.

Pete Waterfield and Stacie Powell did not compete.

Chris Mears is a member of the British Gas GBR Diving Team. This spring British Gas is launching Swim Britain, a campaign to create a healthier nation and get more people swimming regularly by 2015. Visit www.facebook.com/BGSwimming