BY The Age

Olympian Loudy Wiggins reclaimed her women's Australian 10m platform crown in a high quality battle against rising star Melissa Wu on the final night of the Australian diving championships.

Having won seven of eight 10m titles between 1999 and 2005, Wiggins was overtaken by 15-year-old Wu in 2006 and rested in 2007, but on Sunday night at the Adelaide Aquatic Centre she regained the crown with consistently high scoring efforts.

Diving ahead of 28-year-old Wiggins, Wu gave her rival a task to catch up on several occasions but each time the more experienced diver responded strongly.

Wiggins' contemporary Chantelle Newbery claimed third.

NSW teenager Matthew Mitcham earlier accomplished a clean sweep of the men's individual titles by strolling to victory in the 3m springboard final.

Though not quite as flawless as his platform win on Saturday, Mitcham's program of dives kept him at arm's length from main rival Scott Robertson.

Mitcham, who took a year off from the sport in 2007 after becoming exhausted by a thankless, training-oriented lifestyle, was even able to win despite launching into one considerable misfire in the second of his six dives in the final.

"I really wanted it and I was so nervous before the final, it was either Scott's or mine, there was hardly anything between us, and I dropped my second dive really, really badly and I thought it was all over from there," a relieved Mitcham said.

"I always have second thoughts about whether (a year off) was the best thing to do and there's nothing I can do about it or change, but thinking back it was probably a really good thing.

"I would've had to have taken (the break) anyway, the variable was whether I came back or not and I'm really glad I came back."

His victory added the 3m title to the 1m springboard and platform classifications, making it a breakthrough weekend for a diver who had previously won a solitary national honour - the 1m springboard in 2005.

There was good news also for veteran diver Robert Newbery, who was cleared of further injury after pulling out of the remainder of the competition due to a heavy fall on Saturday that left him with a bruised right kidney.

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