Sarah Barrow (born 22 October 1988) is a British retired diver who competed in several

LEN European Aquatics Championships The European Aquatics Championships is the continental Aquatics championship for Europe, which is organised by LEN—the governing body for aquatics in Europe. The Championships are currently held every two years (in even years); and since 2022, t ...

and

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

, where she won multiple medals.

Career

Sarah Barrow was born on 22 October 1988. She competed at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

in the 10 m synchro event with Monique Gladding. The team finished in fifth. She competed in the same event at the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...

, this time with

Tonia Couch Tonia Couch (born 20 May 1989) is a former British Olympic diver. Biography Tonia Couch was born in Plymouth. She had been a fairly accomplished competitive gymnast when she participated in diving for a "trial" in September 1999. Just four w ...

. They finished fourth, and replicated this result at the 2011 European Championships. She won the gold medal at the 2012 European Championships at the 10 metre synchro event, with Tonia Couch. They scored a then personal best of 319.56 points, beating the Ukrainian pair by 8.88 points. This was the first European medal awarded to female British divers in 74 years. The team of Barrow and Couch had finished in 4th at the preceding

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in 2011. Barrow represented

Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics Great Britain and Northern Ireland, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, from 27 July to 12 August 2012 as the host nation and the team of selected athletes was off ...

, in the 10 m platform synchro event with Tonia Couch, and at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

, in the 10 m platform individual event. The team of Barrow and Couch were unable to defend their European title in 2013, finishing with a silver medal. That year, Barrow finished fourth in the individual 10 m platform event at the

. In 2014, Barrow won Commonwealth silver in the 10 m synchro event, with Tonia Couch. That year, she also finished 4th in the individual 10 m at the World Championships, the best result ever for a British woman. At the European Championships in that year, she won the gold medal in the individual 10 m event, the first individual European gold medal for a British woman in 87 years (1927), and first individual medal of any colour since 1958. She and Couch were split up by British coaches in the synchro event in early 2016, after Barrow had struggled with shin injuries and a non-cancerous tumour. This was despite the fact that Barrow and Couch had been the pair who secured GB's Olympic place in the 10 m synchro event.

Later career and retirement

Barrow retired after the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she placed in fifth place with Couch in the 10m synchro. For the last 6 years of her 13-year career, she trained at Plymouth Diving Club. She also studied Sport Science at

Leeds Metropolitan University Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) and before that as Leeds Polytechnic, is a public university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has campuses in the city centre and Headingley. The univ ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrow, Sarah English divers Divers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Divers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic divers for Great Britain Sportspeople from Plymouth, Devon 1988 births Living people Alumni of Leeds Beckett University Divers at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Commonwealth Games medallists in diving Sports scientists Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games