The fifteen-year-old competed at the New South Wales Junior Elite Diving Championships late last month.

Teams came from Queensland, Victoria and South Australia for the competition.

The former Wauchope High School student won gold on the 3m springboard and silver on both the 1m springboard and on the platform.

In the platform competition Purss dives at 5m, 7.5m and the terrifying 10m platform.

Diving is definitely not for the faint hearted but Purss – who started training under former coach Dave Mayo at the Wauchope Swimming Pool – is turning into one of the state’s premier divers.

Purss will now go on to compete at the National Junior Elite Championships in Melbourne in July.

This is the arena for selection of a National team for the World Junior Championships in Germany in September.

In the two days prior to the NSW Junior Elite Diving Championships Josiah competed at the New South Wales All Schools Diving Championships and took the Gold medal in the 15 years boys Springboard and Gold in the Open Platform competition.

The win puts Purss in the team for the Pacific School games in Canberra in early December.

Purss has been boarding at Trinity Grammer School in Summerhill, Sydney and trains at Sydney Olympic Park with New South Wales Institute of Sport.

The young diver is coached by Salvador ‘Chava’ Sobrino who coached the Australian team at the 2000 Olympics and Rebecca Manuel (nee Gilmore) who won a silver medal in Synchronised diving at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

With an ever-growing list of achievements and trophies Purss is well on the way to becoming one of the premier divers in the country.