Montréal, May 23, 2025 – On Friday, British Columbia’s Carson Paul and Quebec’s Mia Vallée claimed the top spot on the podium in their respective events on day one of the Summer National Diving Championships, being held at the Shaw Centre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Paul’s 462.80 points marked a new personal best for him on the 3m springboard and earned him a second national title, following up on his victory at the 2023 Winter National Championships in Winnipeg.
“Coming here, this was the event I had on my mind, and I wanted to win it! Earning the gold medal is like the cherry on top of the sundae,” said the member of the Boardworks diving club, who also finished first in the qualifiers.
Paul was making his return to competition following a three-week hiatus after the World Cups. He took the lead on his third dive, pulling ahead of Cédric Fofana, who had been in first place after the first two rounds. From then on, Paul did not look back, continuing to widen the gap between himself and his nearest opponent.
“I’m looking forward to this summer, and I’m happy to see that I’m getting back in shape. I’ve been working hard with my trainer, and today it paid off. I feel like I didn’t dive my best in the international competitions, and now I want to know where I stand,” added the gold medallist.
Fofana (CAMO) captured silver with 425.15 points, followed by Tazman Abramowicz (Calgary), who secured bronze with 414.60.
“I’m feeling satisfied because even though things didn’t go super well in the preliminary rounds, and 350 isn’t really the type of score I’m after, my dives were very consistent in the finals. I’ve been working on [my consistency] for a long time now, and it showed during the competition,” said the Québécois, who will take part in the 1m springboard event on Saturday.
Mia Vallée achieves her goal
After finishing first in the 1m springboard qualifiers in the early afternoon on Friday, Vallée left no doubt as to her intentions a few hours later in the big final, where she clinched the gold medal with 305.25 points, ahead of her CAMO Club teammate Amélie-Laura Jasmin (262.25). The two athletes, who competed at the World Cup Super Final in Beijing at the beginning of the month, were joined on the podium by Ontario’s Alexa Fung (Toronto Diving Academy, 252.30).
“I used this competition as a warm-up for the upcoming 3m event. I’m really happy with the way I dove. Even on the 1m board, I can see how I’ve improved in several aspects of my diving. The last time I scored over 300 points was in 2022. That was my goal today.”
The action will resume on Saturday in Saskatoon, with the women’s 10m platform competition and the men’s 1m springboard event.
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More information :
Alexandra Piché
Manager, Communications
Diving Canada
C: 514 625-5513
alexandra@diving.ca