(Sportcom) – The Montreal crowd was anything but quiet Saturday afternoon as the six Canadians took to the 10-meter platform and 3-meter diving board at Montreal's Olympic Park swimming pool for the Coupe du Diving World.
Carried away by the crowd's energy, Nathan Zsombor-Murray finished fourth in the men's 10m final, nearly 20 points behind the bronze medalist. The Pointe Claire athlete got off to a great start, scoring scores of 9 and 9.5 on his first visit to the Tower. After the second round he remained above the 8 mark, which even gave him first place in the preliminary ranking with 10 points ahead of the Mexican Randal Willars Valdez, the eventual silver medalist with 530.90 points.
“If we stop after the second dive, yes, I believed in the gold medal. However, it's never over until it's over, so I knew if I wanted to stay there I had to get four more good jumps,” said Zsombor-Murray, who finished ninth in the same event at the World Championships three weeks earlier took , with a score of 452.25 points.
Relaxed and confident, Zsombor-Murray managed to stay in the top 3 of the preliminary rankings until the fourth round. The stress showed on the fifth dive when the athlete came out of his rotations a little late, earning him scores of 6 and 6.5, temporarily dropping him to fifth place.
“My jump was really good. I jumped hard but didn't adjust the opening, as if I knew the top was good. I just opened normally, but because the top was better, I didn’t adjust it properly.”
If he wanted to secure a spot on the podium, the Pointe Claire athlete couldn't make a mistake. Zsombor-Murray completed the event in good style with a total of 496.10 points, but fell short of China's Lian Junjie (514.65), bronze medalist. His compatriot Yang Hao (533.00) was at the top of the podium.
Quebec's partner in the synchronized competition, Rylan Wiens of Saskatchewan (479.35), placed sixth in the event.
“I feel good. Tomorrow it's about synchronization and usually we end with the individual, although it will be different. We'll see how I dose my energy because usually I give everything to the individual. At least I hope we do Have fun,” concluded Zsombor-Murray.
Earlier this Saturday, the duo of Caeli McKay and Kate Miller had nearly reached the third step of the podium in the women's synchronized 10-meter dash.
The Canadian women, who qualified for the Paris Olympics in Doha last month, were provisionally in second place after their third jump, but it wasn't until the fourth round that everything was decided and they failed to maintain the pace.
“I did some things on this dive that I'm proud of, but I came up short and didn't get into the water well, so it's a little frustrating. “There's been a lot of progress since we started diving together, so despite everything, I'm still proud,” McKay said.
With just under a year of experience together, McKay and Miller had no fear. They were the only ones to complete a dive with a difficulty level of 3.3. The maneuver wasn't entirely successful, so they slipped to fifth place, only to move up to fourth place on the final dive.
“I am confident that our team can move forward, especially with Caeli, who is very experienced at my side. Maybe the fourth dive today wasn't the best, but I know what she's capable of and I know I can trust her. At the next competition we will show everyone what we are capable of,” said Kate Miller of Ontario.
The gold-decorated Chinese Yuxi Chen and Hongchan Quan clearly dominated the competition from the first round with a total score of 368.82. Great Britain, represented by Andrea Spendolini Sirieix and Lois Toulson, took silver with 301.14 points, just ahead of Mexico's Gabriela Agundez Garcia and Alejandra Orozco Loza, who completed the top three with 297.84 points.
Pamela Ware smiles again
The women's 3-meter final with Quebec's Pamela Ware was certainly one of the most anticipated moments of the weekend. With a total score of 339.75 and a smile on his face, Ware finished visibly happy and relieved in fifth place in front of the Montreal crowd.
“My goal this week was really to have fun and I think that showed in my jump today,” the 31-year-old athlete revealed.
The talk about her was that three weeks earlier, at the World Aquatic Swimming Championships in Doha, she was unable to perform her take-off jump in the final of the synchronized competition with her teammate Mia Vallée.
When the Canadian duo finished 15th in the Qatari capital, their Olympic passport eluded them in the event.
“I'm very happy! After having a pretty difficult competition in Doha, I worked very hard not to fall into the same hole as in Tokyo. I didn't have a year to prepare, I had two weeks, “So I think it's a big burden that's off my shoulders today,” said the two-time Olympic champion.
From the start this Saturday, the Greenfield Park diver confidently performed a two-and-a-half back pike that had the judges' scores fluctuating between 7.5 and 8, which she was able to maintain throughout the five rounds. On her last dive, which she missed in Qatar, she was even able to cause a surprise.
Ware completely mastered his take-off jump and achieved a score of 73.50, his best score in the final. Her result put her provisionally on the podium before she was overtaken by China's Yiwen Chen (395.60), American Sarah Bacon (356.40) and fellow Chinese Yani Chang (344.40).
“It's not the diving that stresses me out, it's the jump call. I've been doing the same dives for 15 years and I know how to do them. I'm less stable on the take-off jump, but I'm working hard to make it as stable as it already was,” continued the woman who stood on the second step of the podium at this event in Montreal last year.
With the pressure now eased, Ware ended the interview by telling reporters that she would not take part in the second stage of the World Cup, which will be held in Germany, or the third, which will be held in China. She will need the next 10 weeks to train properly for the Olympic Trials, which take place in Windsor from May 17-19.
On Sunday, Nathan Zsombor-Murray and Rylan Wiens will be back in action in the men's 10-meter synchronized event. Cédric Fofana will be the Canadian representative in the men's 3m final.
Her teammate Caeli McKay will be in action in the women's 10-meter final.