15-year-old Brit emerges shock winner in the men's 10m platform event in Rome
15-year-old Brit emerges shock winner in the men's 10m platform event in Rome
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Daley topped the points table with 539.85 ahead of Chinese pair Qiu Bo (532.20) and Zhou Luxin (530.55).
The Briton who finished seventh at last year's Olympics came into the last round in third place but both Qiu and Olympic champion Matthew Mitcham of Australia made a hash of their final dives to hand the gold medal to Daley.
He thus becomes Britain's first ever individual diving world champion.
"Today was never a day I thought I'd be world champion, to come away with the gold medal was just unthinkable this morning," he said before his father burst into the press conference room to give him a cuddle.
"How embarrassing," said Daley before adding: "I'm hoping to do the same thing again at the 2012 London Olympics.
"I was thinking I'd be happy with a top four or top eight finish."
Daley is believed to be the youngest ever male world diving champion although the International Swimming Federation (FINA) said they could not be sure due to controversies surrounding the age of Chinese athletes.
"I hadn't realised I was the youngest person to win gold, it hasn't sunk in yet," added Daley.
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