Commonwealth Games: Diver Jack Laugher learning to deal with great expectations as he aims to increase impressive career medal haul in Birmingham

Twelve years ago, Laugher was the 15-year-old schoolboy taken to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi to represent England at the start of what would become a boundary-breaking career in British diving.

“Just making that team for Delhi in 2010 and getting that experience when I was so young really helped shape me, my performances and my career,” reflects Laugher.

“Having the opportunity to go out there and compete for Team England was massive, I really think it helped me on the path to where I am now.”

Where he is now is still the very top of the diving tree – a statement proven at the world championshps in Budapest last month when he won two silvers and a bronze medal.

Add those to a medal of every colour from the last two Olympics and five golds and a silver from subsequent Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Gold Coast and the picture of a decorated athlete becomes clearer.

But those many highs have often preceded great lows in the life of a young Yorkshireman who has always been honest about himself, open to discussing his feelings and therefore vulnerable to the rollercoaster of emotions.

Never was that more apparent than in the post-Rio glow of an Olympics in which he and Chris Mears won Britain’s first ever diving gold medal in the 3m synchro before Laugher followed it up with a silver off the individual springboard.