Walthamstow’s Pete Waterfield missed out on a medal in the Olympic 10m synchronised diving today alongside Tom Daley.

The pair led the competition at the halfway point but a disappointing dive in round four saw them slip out of the medal positions and ultimately finish fourth, leaving the world’s number one pair of Yuan Cao and Yanquan Zhang from China to take the gold.

Waterfield and Daley linked up as a team after the Beijing Olympics four years ago and have been working towards London 2012 ever since.

They made the perfect start to their campaign by sitting joint-top of the leaderboard after the first round of dives.

Their piked inward dive saw them score 56.40, matching the Chinese pair who had gone before them to lead the way.

And the British hopefuls moved out in front by themselves at the end of round two, matching their score from the first dive with a piked reverse dive.

The third round saw the degree of difficulty stepped up significantly and it had a major affect on the scoreboard.

The Mexican pair of Ivan Garcia Navarro and German Sanchez Sanchez had previously been bottom after the first two rounds but a fine forward 4.5 somersault with tuck saw them rise to fifth before an eventual silver medal result.

However, Waterfield and Daley were able to increase their lead at the top of the standings, outscoring their Chinese counterparts with a back 3.5 somersault with tuck to post 91.08.

The fourth round saw the Chinese move into pole position though with a fine display of diving.

Their 93.06 score from a reverse 3.5 somersault with tuck moved them out in front, while Mexico’s 95.94, the highest score of the competition at that stage, moved them into silver medal position.

The British duo slipped out of the medal positions, with their take on the same Chinese dive only earning scores of sevens from the judges.

A score of 71.28 was not what was expected from the home crowd as they fell to fourth position.

Better was to follow in round five with their forward 4.5 somersault with tuck – their most difficult dive of the competition – but a score of 87.69 still left them outside the podium places.

They saved their best for last with a 91.80 score from their piked back 2.5 somersaults with 2.5 twists but with those ahead of them not slipping up, they fell short of the podium, an agonising nine points behind the American pair of Nicholas McGrory and David Boudia who claimed bronze.