Azerbaijan diver Artyom Danilov has expressed his pride at advancing through to the 1m springboard final at the European Games.

The 17-year-old qualified from the preliminary round in 11th place earlier today to become the host nation's first competitor to reach the event's final.

Danilov, who is originally from Russia but opted to represent Azerbaijan, also admitted that it felt strange competing against his country of birth.

"I'm really excited about the achievement and feel very proud about it," he told reporters. "I do know the [Russian] guys well from training with them in Moscow.

"A lot of them are my friends, and my neighbour in St Petersburg was Ekaterina Nekrasova, who is also in their team. But I'm very proud to be competing for Azerbaijan now."

Great Britain duo James Heatly and Jordan Houlden also advanced through to the final, finishing in fourth and ninth place respectively in qualifying at the Baku Aquatics Centre.