NORTH Yorkshire diver Jack Laugher is still thanking his lucky stars following his second Olympic medal triumph.

The 21-year-old, who claimed a stunning gold with Chris Mears in the synchronised three metres springboard last week, added an individual silver behind China's Cao Yuan on Tuesday evening.

Laugher produced a consistently excellent series of dives, only once dropping below 80 points and posting three scores in the 90s to finish comfortably ahead of Germany's Patrick Hausding in third.

It was all a very different story to Tuesday morning's semi-final, when three poor dives left him on the brink of elimination.

Laugher was knocked out in the preliminary stages in London when he slipped off the board but four years later luck was on his side as his final dive proved just enough to sneak through in 12th position.

He said: "That's my personal worst score since London, where I failed a dive. It was a bit of a shocker, 60 points less than what I've scored in ages.

"I thought it was all over on my fifth dive but I went upstairs and I saw how close I was to 12th place and I realised if I just did a good dive I might make the final.

"It did happen, I had luck on my side today. And in the final I could really let loose because I had no pressure, no nerves. I'm really happy."

He attributed his semi-final struggle to nerves as well as the colour of the pool. Having been restored to sparkling blue from murky green, the sun made it tricky to spot his entry.

There were no such concerns in the evening final.

Claiming the final qualifying place meant Laugher dived first and it worked to his advantage as he piled the pressure on his competitors with a superb display.

He admitted re-focusing after the high of the synchro gold had been difficult, saying: "It was really hard to reset because that is the pinnacle of my entire career so far.

"Olympic gold is just something to be cherished for an entire lifetime so it was really hard coming off that mountain top and dropping back down to getting up at 6am and doing training. But I really focused well."

Laugher was cheered on by his British team-mates including Tom Daley, who will hope to add to diving's already impressive haul of three medals when he goes in the 10m platform at the weekend.

Diving's success is indicative of Team GB as a whole, and it is not inconceivable London's tally of 65 medals could yet be surpassed.

Harrogate-born Laugher is adamant his success will not change him, saying: "While I'm here I'm kind of in a weird Olympic bubble where you don't really get how big an achievement it actually is to come away with a gold and a silver.

"I know everyone's so proud of me back home but I'm just a normal kid from Yorkshire.

"This is my job and I love it every single day. Nothing's going to change on my end. I'm looking forward to going back for sure."

One thing he will do is take a ride on the number 36 bus from Ripon to Leeds, which was named after him following his gold medal with Mears.

He said: "The bus goes from Ripon through Harrogate to Leeds, which is kind of my life story. It really touched me, that was really nice to hear. I'll try and spot it. I might be on there for a couple of hours."