Montréal, August 5, 2024 – The stage is set for Caeli McKay, who secured her spot in the individual 10-metre final by finishing seventh in the semi-finals at the Paris Olympic Games on Monday.
The Calgarian got off to an excellent start, taking third place in the preliminaries, behind China’s Hongchan Quan (421.25 points) and Yuxi Chen (382.15 points), with a score of 324.90.
The semi-finals began well for the 25-year-old, who earned scores of 67.50 and 56.00 on her first two dives, putting her in provisional seventh place. She pulled out all the stops on her third attempt, scoring 76.80 to move into provisional fifth place. She then remained comfortably in the top seven for the remainder of the competition, securing her spot in the final with a total of 308.85 points.
“I’m really happy to have qualified for the final. Today was a real roller coaster. Some things went well, and others not so well, but I was consistent overall, and I’m proud of that. Also, there are several things I can improve on in the final, so that’s good,” said the athlete, who is at her second career Olympic Games.
“I didn’t really pay attention to the scoreboard. I focused on my own dives and my own scores. I know my fourth dive brought me down a bit, but I’m trying to stay focused on myself during these Olympics, since I can’t control what anyone else does.”
China’s Hongchan Quan (421.05 points) and Yuxi Chen (403.05 points) once again dominated the competition, finishing first and second, respectively. Britain’s Andrea Spendolini Sireix finished the semi-finals in third place with a cumulative score of 367.00.
“The Chinese divers are amazing and really consistent, so it will basically be a battle for bronze. I’m very excited about it, I really want to get my hands on it, and I think it’s going to make for a super exciting diving event,” added the Calgarian, who trains in Montréal.
End of the road for Miller
McKay’s teammate Kate Miller also participated in Monday’s individual event, the first of her Olympic career. The Canadian diver finished the preliminaries in 20th place with 266.30 points
“It was definitely because of my fourth dive. In the preliminaries, you have to be consistent. You can’t mess up a dive like that. I thought it would turn out okay, but in the end, that wasn’t the case,” explained the 19-year-old diver, whose run came to an end in the preliminary rounds, since only the top eighteen advance to the semi-finals.
“I think I need to learn to be more consistent. I need to take some lessons away from this high-calibre competition, because I’ve only done two at this level, where everyone is so talented,” she added.
The Ontarian nevertheless has much to be proud of in Paris. She and McKay finished at the foot of the podium in the synchronized 10-metre event last Wednesday.
McKay will be back in action on Tuesday for the individual 10-metre finals, where she will attempt to clinch a medal for Canada.
More information:
Alexandra Piché
Manager, Communications
Diving Canada
C: 514 625-5513
alexandra@diving.ca