Jack Laugher has claimed an Olympic silver medal for Team GB in the final of the men's 3m springboard event in Rio de Janeiro.

The 21-year-old, who last week earned GB's first ever diving gold medal in the 3m synchro event, qualified for the individual final by the narrowest of margins following a disastrous performance in the semi-final earlier in the day.

There were no signs of a repeat of the problems that blighted his qualifying campaign tonight, however, and he came out of the blocks strongly with a score of 81.60 for his forward 2-1/2 with 2 twists.

Laugher followed that up with two 90+ dives in the next two rounds, with his only slight wobble coming in the fourth round, when he registered a score of 76.05 for his highest-tariff dive, the forward 2-1/2 somersaults with 3 twists.

The forward 4-1/2 somersaults had been a thorn in Laugher's Rio routine prior to tonight but it proved to be his most successful jump in the final, garnering an impressive score of 96.90.

Laugher made certain of his spot on the podium with an assured finish with his final dive, the back 3-1/2 somersaults, with a score of 88.20.

Chinese diver Cao Yuan entered the final as the heavy favourite and from his very first jump, there looked to be only one winner.

The 21-year-old managed four 90+ dives on his way to gold with an overall score of 547.60, almost 24 points ahead of Laugher.

The final spot on the podium went to Germany's Patrick Hausding, who had also suffered a sub-par performance in the earlier semi-final but delivered six confident dives - including a session-best score of 98.80 - to earn his country's first diving medal in Brazil.

Russia's Evgenii Kuznetsov had been expected to mount a challenge for the medals but could only muster a fourth-place finish after faltering with his forward 2-1/2 with 3 twists.

Ireland's first diver since the second World War, Oliver Dingley, put in a more than respectable performance and eventually finished eighth on the leaderboard, while Mexican veteran Rommel Pacheco could only muster a seventh-place finish after botching his opening two dives.

Final 3m leaderboard:

1. Cao Yuan (China) - 547.60
2. Jack Laugher (Great Britain) - 523.85
3. Patrick Hausding (Germany) - 498.90
4. Evgenii Kuznetsov (Russia) - 481.35
5. Kristian Ipsen (USA) - 475.80
6. Illya Kvasha (Ukraine) - 475.10
7. Rommel Pacheco (Mexico) - 451.20
8. Oliver Dingley (Ireland) - 442.90
9. Cesar Castro (Brazil) - 436.00
10. Mike Hixon (USA) - 431.65
11. Philippe Gagne (Canada) - 425.30
12. Sebastian Morales (Colombia) - 364.50

Jack Laugher round-by-round:

Dive 1: Forward 2-1/2 somersaults 2 twists - 81.60
Dive 2: Reverse 3-1/2 somersaults - 91.00
Dive 3: Inward 3-1/2 somersaults - 90.10
Dive 4: Forward 2-1/2 somersaults 3 twists - 76.05
Dive 5: Forward 4-1/2 somersaults - 96.90
Dive 6: Back 3-1/2 somersaults - 88.20

Cao Yuan round-by-round:

Dive 1: Inward 3-1/2 somersaults - 85.00
Dive 2: Reverse 1-1/2 somersaults 3-1/2 twists - 94.50
Dive 3: Reverse 3-1/2 somersaults - 94.50
Dive 4: Back 3-1/2 somersaults - 90.00
Dive 5: Forward 2-1/2 somersaults 2 twists - 86.70
Dive 6: Forward 4-1/2 somersaults - 96.90