Original Story: The Sydney Morning Herald

The "jelly legs" were there again but this time Maddison Keeney didn't buckle.

In fact, the Australian was so confident after claiming Commonwealth Games 3m springboard silver that she declared she was coming for the dominant Chinese at Tokyo 2020.

Then world champion Keeney withdrew from Friday's 1m springboard event after succumbing to shin splints which she had been nursing since January.

However, Keeney showed new found mental resolve to hit back on Saturday night.

"I struggled a bit with the old jelly legs again but I came in tonight with a fresh mindset - I can't be more proud of myself," Keeney said.

Keeney almost snatched gold by nailing her final dive which had the highest degree of difficulty of any other dive in the competition - 3.4.

She believed it was the key to breaking China's vice-like grip on Olympic diving gold in Tokyo.

"I can't beat them (China) in the regular dives so I have to step it up some other way - I am coming for them," she said.

Keeney's 3m synchro bomb this week was unfortunately not the first time her blunders have made potential viral videos.

She looked set to podium in the 1m at the 2015 world titles but baulked and all but fell off the springboard on her final dive, finishing last.

It was almost a carbon copy of Keeney's 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games effort where she looked primed for 1m gold but again stuttered on the springboard, relegating her to silver.

But Keeney believed she had made a breakthrough on Saturday night.

"A couple of years ago if I had gone through that I don't think I would have come away so positively," she said.

AAP