NORTH Yorkshire's Jack Laugher teamed up with Chris Mears to win Olympic gold in the men's synchronised three-metres springboard final in Rio this evening.

Proving the British diving team is about more than one man, the City of Leeds pair joined Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow as medallists.

Mears and Laugher won World Championships bronze in 2015, Commonwealth gold in 2014 and European gold in May.

And now they are Olympic champions after finishing ahead of the United States' Sam Dorman and Mike Hixon in second and China's Cao Yuan and Qin Kai in bronze.

The British pair led at the halfway point of the competition. And they enhanced their advantage by scoring 85.68 for their inward 3 1/2 somersaults with tuck.

A score of 86.58 for their forward 2 1/2 somersault 3 twists – the most difficult dive in their repertoire – saw the Britons take an advantage of 2.64 into the final round.

With the USA nine points adrift in third, it appeared to be a two-way battle for gold, coming down to the final dive.

The American duo then responded to score 98.04 with their final dive, reaching 450.21 and piling the pressure on Britain in a tense podium battle.

Mears and Laugher kept their composure. Their forward 4 1/2 somersault with tuck was well executed.

It scored 91.20 to take them to a total of 454.32 and left China needing better than 93.84 to win.

The Chinese pair were the penultimate divers to go, of eight pairs, and Laugher and Mears were powerless; they could only watch. But China faltered, scoring 83.22, which sparked jubilant celebrations among the British contingent.