By Will Jennings in Paris

JORDAN HOULDEN lowered the colours of Jack Laugher to cap an Olympic debut to savour and insisted – I can leave Paris with pride.

The Sheffield star, 26, finished fifth in the 3m springboard final after a nerveless diving display.

Experienced Rio 2016 synchro champion and British teammate Laugher, who also bagged bronze alongside Anthony Harding last week, struggled in Thursday’s final as he finished two places behind Houlden and well away from the medals.

Chinese duo Xie Siyi and Wang Zongyuan soared to gold and silver as Mexican minnow Osmar Olvera shocked the rest of the field with a dazzling display to snatch bronze.

Houlden, who banked 3m silver and 1m bronze at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, knows there is room for improvement but believes he can depart the French capital with his head held high.

“I definitely knew I could have done a lot better, but for a debut I can’t fault myself,” he said.

“I went out, did my best and that’s all I could have done.

“My third dive was a bit iffy but I kept cool, did what I normally do, kept a level, head, came back and did a good job.

“There was always a chance of a medal if I did everything perfectly, but the main goal was a final and I’m glad I achieved that.”

Speaking about the astonishing Chinese pair, who blew away the rest of the field with a devastating display, Houlden added: “They are incredible – it’s incredible to watch them dive and the expectation that they do it at is insane.

“They can just do those dives no matter what even if they’re the hardest dives in the world – they can do them with perfection.

“That’s what training is for – always trying to perfect things, but competing is in a competition environment is different.”

Houlden and Laugher are two of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support.

Ripon star Laugher, who won bronze in the individual springboard event in Tokyo, was far from his fluent best as an overcooked third dive delivered the ‘final nail’ in his Olympic coffin.

He admits he was stunned by Olvera’s antics and that emotions got the better of him as his campaign fell flat in Paris.

“I’m sad – I knew coming into this what I could do but I let emotions get the better of me here,” the 29-year-old said.

“I think I wanted the end result too much and potentially focused on that too much over the process.

“Today was a really difficult day – the Mexican dived very well and the crowd so loud, and I didn’t expect that.

“I got taken by it all, the emotions of the Olympics.

“I’ve done a really good job to get here, but I just couldn’t finish it off today.”

With more than £30M a week raised for Good Causes, including vital funding into elite and grassroots sport, National Lottery players support our Olympic and Paralympic athletes to live their dreams and make the nation proud, as well as providing more opportunities for people to take part in sport. To find out more visit: www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk