November 11, 2018
Canada’s Lysanne Richard wins silver medal at FINA High Diving World Cup
Diving: Canada – ABU DHABI, UAE – Lysanne Richard of Montreal won the silver medal on Saturday in the women’s 21-metre event to qualify for next year’s world championships at the FINA World Cup event in high diving.
Rhiannan Iffland of Australia won the gold medal with 322.95 points in the four-round event (two on Friday and two on Saturday). Richard followed at 285.75 while Eleanor Smart of the U.S. was third at 277.70 in her World Cup debut.
Richard, 37, was also second after day one. The Canadian ace, the 2016 FINA World Cup champion, ensured her ranking in the last dive, a front 3 somersaults 1 ½ twists in the pike position, receiving 87.75 points from the judges (the degree of difficulty was a whopping 3.9).
“I am really excited with this medal,’’ said Richard, who missed most of 2017 with a neck injury. ‘’My goal was to be in the top-three and to get a silver here I couldn’t expect more.’’
This season on the Red Bull Cliff Diving circuit Richard took third overall to show she was back in top form. However she admits the competition is getting stiffer.
‘’Rhiannan was very strong throughout the two days and she has presented very solid dives. For the rest of the group, it’s quite rewarding to see that new girls are joining the high diving family and that the ones being here for a while are presenting more difficult dives. We are like a family and it feels great”, admitted Richard, mother of three children in Montreal.
This World Cup is a qualifying event for the 2019 FINA World Championships and the first eight ranked women are automatically selected.
“I performed well here, so I am quite optimistic on a good 2019 season,’’ Richard added.
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