Tom Daley, at 14, the second youngest British Olympian, qualified for the final of the men’s 10m platform. Daley had struggled in the men’s synchronised event earlier in the Games, finishing last of the eight finalists with his partner, Blake Aldridge. Aldridge later criticised Daley for cracking under pressure, but there was no sign of nerves or weakness in the Water Cube as Daley, diving seventh out of 18 semi-finalists, overcame a sluggish start to finish eighth of the 12 qualifiers.

Pete Waterfield, though, was less fortunate. After qualifying strongly from the preliminaries, Waterfield again began promisingly before his fifth dive, usually his favourite, let him down. The 27-year-old from Southampton has been hampered by a shoulder injury, which required three cortisone injections this week. “I knew I could still qualify on the last dive, but it just didn’t happen for me,” he said.

Daley now has eight hours to recover and prepare himself for the final at 1300BST, which could once again be dominated by the Chinese, Not since 1952 has one nation won all the diving golds. China have won all seven gold medals in the diving pool so far. The only surprise was that Liang Huo qualified ahead of his compatriot and favourite, Luxin Zhou. Gleb Galperin, the world champion from Russia, qualified in fourth.

This will be Daley's second final of the Games, having dived with Blake Aldridge in the synchronised 10m platform early last week. And he said finishing seventh out of eighth in that had given him extra motivation.

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"It has been an amazing journey for me this past week. I have been training so hard because to come back after the synchro I really wanted to put in a good performance," said the teenager.

"I was going into the prelim [on Friday night] a little bit nervous and my first dives weren't too good.

"But coming into the semi-final I was hungry to get into the final and, again, my first dive wasn't so good but I slowly and surely made my way back.

"The fourth one is one of my favourite dives so it is normally my most consistent one.

"I'm going into the final now to enjoy myself and get the whole experience of what an Olympic final is going to be like because in London 2012 that is what I am aiming for.

"To go into the Olympic final in London I just need that experience from Beijing."

Waterfield was bitterly disappointed not to have given himself the chance to add to the silver medal he won in the synchronised 10m platform in Athens four years ago.

"It just didn't go my way. I dived well yesterday and I knew it was going to be a bit more of a struggle this morning but I didn't think it was going to be like that," said the 27-year-old.

On his flawed fifth dive, which cost him a place in the final, he added: "Normally it is my best dive. I took over, had a great start and I guess I just panicked in the middle of it, kicked my feet too high and over-rotated.

"I knew I could still do it coming into the last dive but I needed a better dive than what I did. Such is life."

Men's 10m platform semi-final: Qualified: 1. Huo Liang (China) 549.95 points; 2. Matthew Mitcham (Australia) 532.20; 3. Zhou Luxin (China) 526.20; 4. Gleb Galperin (Russia) 508.95; 5. David Boudia (US) 491.55; 6. Mathew Helm (Australia) 485.20; 7. Thomas Finchum (US) 474.95; 8. Tom Daley (GB) 458.60; 9. Rommel Pacheco (Mexico) 453.80; 10. Patrick Hausding (Germany) 453.30; 11. Jose Antonio Guerra Oliva (Cuba) 438.80; 12. Juan Guillermo Uran (Colombia) 436.10. Failed to qualify: 13. Peter Waterfield (Britain) 430.95, 14. Vadim Kaptur (Belarus) 420.55; 15. Jeinkler Aguirre (Cuba) 414.20; 16. Riley McCormick (Canada) 391.35; 17. Reuben Ross (Canada) 390.75; 18. Sascha Klein (Germany) 382.85