Diving Canada – It doesn’t always go to plan. There aren’t always the brilliant moments on home soil, and Canada’s divers learned that the hard way on Saturday at the FINA Diving World Series in Montreal.
In the women’s 10m platform, both Canadians failed to advance to the six-person final.
Victoria’s Celina Toth was sixth in semifinal A with 252.50 points, and Montreal’s Meaghan Benfeito finished fifth in semifinal B with 279.65 points.
This marks the first time Benfeito has missed the podium in women’s 10m platform this season, following a bronze medal in Beijing, China, and a silver from the season opening event in Sagamihara, Japan.
I’m disappointed, obviously, it doesn’t represent what I’ve been working on in practice,” said the three-time Olympic medallist.
“I made mistakes and I honestly wanted to offer a better performance to everyone who came here tonight. But that’s life, you can’t always be on the podium,” said Benfeito.
China’s Lu Wei won the women’s platform gold medal with 423.85 points.
The only individual podium shot today was Olympian Philippe Gagné in the men’s 3m springboard.
Gagné moved on to the final, only to finish sixth with a score of 435.00 points. In the end, China’s Xie Siyi triumphed by amassing 537.65 points.
The 21 year-old was thrilled to make the final, “I’m happy that I was able to achieve a great score in front of my family, friends and a home crowd that had an incredible energy,” said Gagné.
“I put a bit of pressure on my shoulder today. I wanted to show that I could reach my objective here, which was to make the final.”
Benfeito, and Nathan Zsombor-Murray, 15, closed the night for the home team with a fifth-place finish in the mixed 10m synchro platform with 306.60 points. It was their best score on the Diving World Series this season.
Lian Junjie and Si Yajie of China won the event with 342.21 points.
The final day of the Montreal FINA Diving World Series is on Sunday featuring the women’s 3m springboard, the men’s 10m platform, and the mixed 3m springboard.
Full results can be found here: http://omegatiming.com/Competition?id=0001130002FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF&sport=AQ&year=2019
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For more information:
Maëlle Dancause
Manager, Public Relations
Diving Plongeon Canada
C: 514-475-4540 | maelle@diving.ca