Finishing fifth in a Commonwealth Games final prompted diver Emily Meaney to reflect on a journey from Hobart to Birmingham via the US and Queensland.
In her maiden Games, the 25-year-old survived a high-pressure final dive in qualification to reach the 10m individual platform final where she rose to the occasion, recording her best dives to finish as the highest of three Aussies in front of a packed crowd at Sandwell Aquatics Centre.
"I think if you'd told nine-year-old Em that I was competing in a Commonwealth Games I wouldn't have believed you, but it's been a massive goal of mine since I was really young so to be here is awesome," Meaney said.
"I started diving down in Tassie. I was about seven or eight when I picked it up at the local aquatic centre and was hooked from then. I was put in the elite program when I was about 10 and when I was 12 unfortunately due to low numbers in Tassie the diving program was shut down. So I moved to Brisbane for the national talent idenfication program and have just been going from there."
The former Fahan School student, who studied in the US and now lives in Queensland where she is with the national high performance program, has competed at FINA Grand Prix and World Cups and qualified for Birmingham after winning bronze at this year's national championships, representing Diving Tasmania.
But she said nothing compared to the Commonwealth Games experience.
"It's the biggest crowd I think I've ever dived in front of. The atmosphere is pretty incredible. I'm super happy with fifth in my first Commonwealth Games.
"Once you experience this environment, you just want to come back and experience it again so we'll see where my diving takes me in the next few years.
"I would love to go to Paris. I have not been to an Olympics so that would be my goal."
With 12 to qualify from the 14 entrants, Meaney was sitting 14th after a nervy opening inward two-and-a-half somersault (37.80). However, she moved up to 13th with her second dive (48.00) and 12th with her fourth (54.00) before claiming the last spot in the final with her top-scoring dive (59.20) in the last round, a backward two-and-a-half somersault with one-and-a-half twists.
Meaney saved her best dives for the final, kicking off with a 61.60 score in round one to sit seventh. After scores of 52.80 and 56.55 she finished strongly with 66.00 for a forward three-and-a-half somersault and 62.40 to total 299.35 and climb to fifth. England's Andrea Spendolini Sirieix was a popular home winner with 357.50.
"Little bit of a shaky start but I came through with the last three dives so really happy to make the final," Meaney added.
"It's a big crowd out there so I think the nerves got to me plus a bit of adrenalin but by the end of it I think my nerves had settled a bit.
"I don't watch the scoreboard so I wasn't sure where I was but I knew I had to finish on a good one to make sure I got through.
"We have different cues for each dive and you've just got to focus on those and not look around too much.
"I think I was a bit nervous in preliminaries but come the final I knew what to expect and had better dives.
"I did not come here with many expectations, I just wanted to dive like I know I can and have a bit of fun."
Rebecca Van Asch's Birmingham medal hopes are over after Australia's women's triples were eliminated in the quarter-final.
After two gold medals in 2018, Invermay's 34-year-old triple world champion had been hoping to add more Commonwealth Games glory in the Northern Hemisphere but went out in the first knockout stage having earlier failed to progress beyond the group stage in the fours.
Van Asch was skipping a Jackaroos trio with Lynsey Clarke and Natasha van Eldik at Leamington Spa's Victoria Park.
Fresh from wins over Singapore (21-11) and Falkland Islands (29-8) and a 17-12 loss to South Africa, the Aussies finished their pool games with a 19-9 win over Northern Ireland. Just one point seperated the sides before the Aussies won the last four ends to finish on top of Section A.
In a tense trans-Tasman quarter-final both sides enjoyed small leads before the match was all square at 10-10 after 15 ends. Australia did not win another point, going down 14-10.
Georgia Baker narrowly missed adding to her Birmingham medal haul with a fourth-placed finish in the time trial.
Fresh from double gold on the Lee Valley track in the team pursuit and points race, the Perth 27-year-old switched to a road bike for the 28.8km race against the clock in Wolverhampton.
Baker was seventh fastest of the 36 entries at the first time check after 8.9km, 28.42 seconds behind leader and compatriot Grace Brown, before climbing up three places in the latter part of the race at an average speed of 41.392km per hour.
Brown claimed gold for Australia in 40:05.20. Baker was +1:39.65 behind but earned some high praise from the BBC commentary team.
Olympic champion Chris Boardman observed: "She's got a fantastic style on the bike. A nicely-balanced upper body."
And experienced presenter Simon Brotherton added: "Georgia Baker, one of the better known riders in the field. Those who follow women's cycling will be very familiar with her."
Tasmanians Eddie Ockenden and Josh Beltz helped the Kookaburras complete their group stage with a 100 per cent record to qualify for the semi-finals.
The Aussies have been ruthless at the University of Birmingham Hockey Centre, adding a 7-0 defeat of Pakistan to previous comfortable wins over Scotland (12-0), New Zealand (7-2) and South Africa (3-0).
Braces to Tom Wickham and Jeremy Hayward plus singles from Blake Govers, Jacob Anderson and Nathan Ephraums inflicted the damage on Pakistan.
Tasmanian runner Jacob Despard said Australia's sprinters have been working overtime on saving time on the baton handovers as they prepare for the 4x100m relay.
The 25-year-old 2018 Stawell Gift winner, and fellow Hobartian Jack Hale, 24, are both in contention for their country's sprint relay team which takes to the Alexander Stadium track for heats on Saturday ahead of finals on Sunday.
Despard said the squad, which also includes NSW pair Joshua Azzopardi and Rohan Browning, Queenslander Jake Doran and Victorian Christopher Mitrevski, have been fine-tuning the technicalities of their handovers.
"I think we just need quicker times through the exchange zone and Australia does do that really well," said the former St Virgil’s and Guilford Young College student.
"It’s something a lot of other countries don’t put a lot of time into but our ability in the 30-metre exchange zone where we change the baton is world-class and we make up a lot of time in that area.
"A lot of practice goes into that and we’re pushing the boundaries of the gap between the incoming and outgoing runner. The speed of the baton is what gets timed so if we have to slow down it’s not ideal."
Despard and Hale will be the only Tasmanians on the athletics team in Birmingham after Stewart McSweyn was forced to withdraw.
Just a day out from his 1500m heat, the 27-year-old King Islander said he had been unable to overcome the effects of flu picked up since competing in the world championships in Oregon a couple of weeks ago.
"I picked up a the flu travelling back from the world champs in America, and sadly haven't been able to shake it in time for tomorrow's heat," McSweyn posted on social media. "My focus now is on getting back to full health for the remainder of the European season."
McSweyn was due to run the 1500m having contested the 5000m and 10,000m double on his Commonwealth Games debut on the Gold Coast.