Canada’s Field golden at international diving meet
Diving Canada – Chamandy and Vallée add synchro bronze
DRESDEN, Germany – Late team addition Erin Field of Montreal won the gold medal on girls platform in the 14-15 age group on Friday at the Dresden International junior diving competition.
Field, who trains at the Pointe-Claire Diving Club under coach Yihua Li, nailed her opening reverse dive in the final en route to victory with 322.90 points. Chiara Pellacani of Italy was second at 316.35 and Helle Tuxen of Norway third at 314.70.
“The victory is very satisfying,” said Field. “I was originally not supposed to come because I hadn’t met standards but I redeemed myself today. I had some pretty good dives and I was able to get 8.0’s and 9.0’s which is difficult here because the judges are tougher.”
(Erin Field)
Field was 12th in the preliminaries, the last spot for a berth in the final. In that final she opened with three 8.5’s and a 9.0 on her reverse with two and half somersaults.
“That’s one of my favorite dives,” she said. “I score it well consistently in competition now including three times in a row now for at least one 9.0. What stressed me the most in the final was going first because I was the last qualifier.”
Margo Erlam of Calgary was 11th out of 22 entries.
On women’s three-metre synchro, Olivia Chamandy of Pointe-Claire and Mia Vallée of Beaconsfield, Que., won the bronze medal with 263.10 points. Russian and Australian pairs were 1-2.
‘’We only train once a week together so it is a good result for us,’’ said Chamandy. ‘’We did make some mistakes which potentially cost us a higher placing.’’
(Chamandy (l) and Vallee)
Bryden Hattie of Victoria was ninth on boys 14-15 three-metre while Victor Povzner of Markham, Ont., was 19th.
‘’This is my first international event so for me it’s all about experience,’’ said Hattie. ‘’If I go to the world juniors this will be really beneficial because I’ll face a lot of the same divers.’’
Canada has three medals after two days of competition. On Thursday, Vallée won gold on one-metre.
Competition ends Sunday.
Full results: http://www.sportlicht.net/live/result.php?event_id=162
by Louis Daignault for Diving Canada