(Sportcom) – An all-Montreal team represented Canada in Friday night's team event at the Montreal Diving World Cup. The four representatives of the CAMO diving club took fifth place in this competition won by the Chinese team.
Éloïse Bélanger, Amélie-Laura Jasmin, Benjamin Tessier and Cédric Fofana collected a total of 378.20 points. Bélanger, Jasmin and Tessier all had their first World Cup experience.
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Beyond the result, it was the fun aspect of this event that caught the attention of Canadian divers.
“We wanted to have fun while winning. The first part was respected because we really wanted to have fun. That was the most important thing. We have great chemistry between us and I think that showed at the event,” said Cédric Fofana.
“I think the team competition is a great event in the sense that it is not part of our individual events. We approach it with the idea of having fun. We are taking advantage of the opportunity,” continues Éloïse Bélanger.
Jasmin and Fofana both started the competition strongly with their first individual jump over 3 meters. Canada was then in provisional third place after the first round.
The Jasmin-Fofana duo experienced a slightly more difficult synchronized jump that relegated them to sixth place halfway through the event. On the 10-meter tower, Bélanger and Tessier were able to move up one place at the end of their visits to the tower, securing fifth place in the country.
“Individually we did a very good job, but of course we couldn't really practice synchronicity. I'm still happy with what we did today (Friday). We are disappointed that we didn’t manage to synchronize, but we are less disappointed than if we had missed our individual dives,” Fofana explained.
“In the last two weeks we have practiced synchro a maximum of two to three times. “The expectations are certainly lower than for individuals,” adds Amélie-Laura Jasmin.
In addition to the lack of training, the morphological differences between teammates further increase the challenge of synchronized diving in this type of event.
“With Éloïse we had a little more difficulty synchronizing. I'm a little taller than her, so it was difficult to jump and look like the same person in the air at the same time,” noted Benjamin Tessier.
In addition to the Chinese (506.35 points), the British (438.05 points) and the Australians (405.70 points) were on the podium in second and third place.
McKay, Miller and Fofana in the final on Sunday
Preliminary rounds were also on the agenda at the start of the day and three Canadian athletes secured their ticket to the final, which will be awarded on Sunday.
In the women's 10m, Caeli McKay took first place in her group with a score of 352.15. That mark gave her third place behind China's Hongchan Quan and Yuxi Chen, gold and silver medalists respectively at the World Championships in Doha last February.
“I did my dives well throughout the day and I still have energy left in the tank for the finale. I will do everything I can to be on the podium on Sunday. All of my biggest competitors are here and the standard is really high,” said McKay.
Kate Miller, for her part, also managed to crack the top 12 and secure her place in the final, finishing in 10th place with 308.05 points.
“I was consistent with my jumps and had real confidence. I am very happy to be able to take part in the final. That was my main goal this weekend and I can already say mission accomplished. I am very proud of myself! I wanted to have fun this weekend in this competition that is practically at home,” commented Miller, who is originally from Ottawa.
Éloïse Bélanger also qualified for the women's 10m, finishing in 16th place (241.65 points).
On the men's 3-meter springboard, Cédric Fofana took advantage of the crowd's energy and finished 10th in the preliminary heat with 387.75 points.
“My first three dives were solid, so I still had room for the rest. I completed my hardest dive which earned me a lot of points. I'm happy that I was able to place ahead of my parents for the final. “I’m really very happy about it,” said Fofana happily.
For him, Bryden Hattie was very close to getting his ticket to the final with his 13th place and 375.90 points. This placement allows him to be the first reserve player for the final event.
China's Zongyuan Wang dominated the qualification with a total of 522.15 points.
Note that on Thursday, Paméla Ware and Aimee Wilson qualified for the final in the women's 3-meter dash, while Nathan Zsombor-Murray and Rylan Wiens did the same in the men's platform.