GWANGJU, Korea, Republic Of — Canada’s diving team earned another two spots at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after Pamela Ware and Jennifer Abel qualified for the final of the women’s three-metre springboard Thursday at the FINA world aquatics championships.
Abel, 27, from Laval, Que., finished fourth in the semifinal with 339.90 points, while Montreal’s Ware, 26, was sixth with 308.00 points.
"The goal coming here was to be Top 12 to qualify an Olympic spot," Ware said. "Now its really to compete in the final and do the best I can, hopefully top-8 to qualify for the World Series (tour)."
Abel, a three-time Olympian, described Thursday’s morning preliminary round as "tough."
"I was diving towards the end and, during the last round of dives, I was seeing the other girls getting changed and packing their bags while I still had to dive," she said.
Abel said the afternoon semifinal was much easier.
"Most of the girls that were diving towards the end are the same ones that I’m used to competing with at the World Series. It really helped me to stay focused and I think it showed in the quality of the dives we saw," she said.
Meaghan Benfeito of Laval, Que, and Calgary’s Caeli McKay qualified Olympic spots for Canada in the women’s 10m platform on Tuesday.
Abel also secured Olympic nomination along with Melissa Citrini-Beaulieu by winning the silver medal in the women’s three-metre synchro springboard.
Also Thursday, defending champion Xie Siyi of China won the men’s 3-meter springboard final after Jack Laugher of Britain faltered in his last dive.
It extended China’s perfect run at the championships to 10 gold medals in 10 diving events.
Laugher led all the way until he only scored 30.6 points in his sixth dive, and had to settle for bronze with 504.55 points. Xie scored 102.60 points in his last dive for a total of 545.45. Cao Yuan of China finished second with 517.85 points.
"I looked at the scoreboard after the third round and then I focused on myself," Xie said. "I did not watch Jack’s last dive but I comforted him before the awarding ceremony."
Laugher said he simply made a mistake in his last dive.
"I hit the wall with my right fist after I saw the results," Laugher said. "When you could potentially make history and do such a good performance and then you make the mistake, I was really angry."
Alexandre Despatie is the last non-Chinese diver to win gold in the three-metre springboard event, finishing first at the 2005 worlds in his hometown of Montreal.
— With files from The Associated Press.
[relatedlinks]
