SOUTHAMPTON diver Peter Waterfield has clinched his place at next year's Olympics in Greece.

Along with partner Leon Taylor, Waterfield finished fourth in the Men's 10m Synchro Platform event at the World Championships in Barcelona.

The pair, who won the event at last year's Commonwealth Games in Manchester, were fourth at the Olympics three years ago in Sydney.

And, in the Catalan capital yesterday, they missed out on a medal by just 11 points.

Gold went to Matt Helm and Robert Newbery of Australia with 384.60, Roman Volodkov and Anton Zakharov of the Ukraine were third while China's Tian Liang and Hu Jia beat Waterfield and Taylor to the bronze with 367.94 against 356.94.

Placed just behind the Chinese going into the final dive, Taylor and Waterfield executed their chosen back two-and-a-half, two-and-a-half twist well but the Chinese pulled out one of the dives of the final to ensure their third spot.

The fourth placed finish was Britain's highest-ever placing in a World Championship diving event.

Waterfield had told the Daily Echo before he flew out to Barcelona that he wasn't worried about not winning a medal at the Worlds.

All he wanted was a high enough finish to qualify for next summer's Athens Olympics.

It was a superb end to a tournament which had started badly for London-born Waterfield when he could only finish 18th in the Men's 10m Platform event on Saturday..

Sheffield-based Taylor finished fifth in the event to continue his recovery after two bouts of surgery on an injured shoulder.