Montréal, November 28, 2022 – On Monday, Arnaud Corbeil (Camo) became the first Canadian to win a medal at the FINA World Junior Diving Championships held at the Centre Sportif du Parc Olympique in Montréal. The athlete from Terrebonne won the silver medal in the Men’s 3-metre springboard in the B category.
Consistent throughout the final, Corbeil was in sixth place before making his penultimate dive – and that’s when the Québec diver landed his best effort of the day, his 63.50 score putting him in third place provisionally.
From that point on, Corbeil didn’t slow his roll, putting on another impressive show for his final dive, scoring 59.70. The latter score enabled him to surpass Britain’s Oscar Kane, and thus the Canuck would wear the silver medal at the end of the competition.
“I feel great! I really want to thank everyone who has enabled me to be here – in particular my coaches and my family. I was a little stressed, but I stayed confident. I was ready for anything! I’m going to celebrate with my family and friends,” said Corbeil moments after his final dive.
“I am very happy with my performance – I was happy to just get to the final and I would have been satisfied with a top-5, but I’m so super happy with my medal,” he added.
A member of the Camo Diving Club, Corbeil admits that the home pool advantage probably helped him in the critical moments of the final.
“I know the pool here well, and my whole family was here to support me. Preparation with my coaches was also super good and helped me a lot today.”
The Ukraine’s Kirill Boliukh was flawless, and won the gold medal with a score of 439.25, while Italy’s Valerio Mosca was also brilliant on his final dive, which earned him the third step of the podium (414.90).
Also diving in the final, Alberta’s Luc Goertzen (Calgary) took seventh place with a score of 387.60.
In women’s diving competitions today, Presley Deck (Saskatoon) was another bright star Monday. Diving from the 10m Platform in Category B, the Canadian placed fifth (291.05) in the grand final – which was won by Charli Petrov of Australia (345.30).
“My first few jumps went great! I had a little trouble on my last dive, but for my first international experience I’m very proud of myself. I didn’t do super well in qualifying, but I knew I would be able to get everything together in the final,” explained Deck.
“I wasn’t platforming six months ago, so it’s very exciting to already be breaking into the top-5 in this discipline. I’ve been training hard over the past few months to get there.”
Québec’s Mathilde Laberge (Camo) finished her day in 12th place with a score of 252.90.
The silver medal went to Great Britain’s Maisie Bond (318.60), while American diver Anna Lemkin completed the podium with her 305.40 points.
The FINA World Junior Diving Championships continues until Sunday. Three exciting finals are scheduled for Tuesday: the Women’s A 3m, the Men’s B 1m and the Women’s Platform Synchronised.
More information :
Maelle Dancause
Manager, Communications
Diving Canada
C: 514-475-4540
maelle@diving.ca