But, as the difficulty level rose, Daley and Goodfellow dropped to fifth following a fourth-round dive in which the latter created more splash than he would have liked on entering the water.
It all got so frustrating that he decided to end his career with a statement: He took $5,000 to step into the ring with a lesser fighter named Alvin Hayes in Detroit in 1983 and, he says, he took a first-round dive.
But the 24-year-old, who trains with Barrow in Plymouth, was left struggling after achieving just 43.2 for her opening-round dive, some 39.4 points off the then-leader, American Victoria Lamp.
Gozo is rightly famed for its year-round diving: the Inland Sea is a crystal-clear lagoon on the west coast, connected to the sea by a narrow, divable crevasse and teeming with marine life.
Year round, foraging dives usually occur during daylight hours, but winter dives are more constrained by daylight due to the shorter days.
The British star took a tiny lead into the last round of dives, but needed to be perfect as his closest rivals were both trying more technically difficult dives.
He turned inside him and curved a shot round the dives of both Guillermo Rodríguez and Sosa to round off a stunning goal.
Resignation replaces exclamation, as Jordan heaves and Swart, at long off, takes another superb catch, running forward and round before diving to insert fingers under cork.
They moved into a narrow lead in the penultimate round of dives and a score of 75.60 from their final effort secured Reid her maiden major championship title and Daley his third European gold.
He slipped back to sixth heading into the final round of dives but was one of four divers with a chance of claiming bronze.
