Montréal, July 20th, 2024 – Following their triumph on Thursday, Chase Shaw and Avery Cowan captured another national title at the Canadian Junior Development Diving Championships in Regina on Friday. The Calgary native Shaw won the boy’s 3 m Group C final, while Avery Cowan did the same in the girls’ 1 m Group D competition.
Shaw (365.25), from the Calgary diving club, prevailed over Alistair Nisbet (336.0, PCDC) as he did the day before on the 1 m springboard. Gabriel Brombach (279.40, Revolution) finished third.
“When you win a gold medal, you’re already looking ahead to the next day’s competition and putting the past behind you,” admitted the winner. “It’s incredible and beyond my expectations! I’m so happy! I was consistent in the prelims and finals, and I achieved my goal of successfully executing my high difficulty dives.”
Gabin Empotz-Lacote (Calgary) recorded the third-highest score of the competition with 302.65 points, but his result was not considered in the rankings because the athlete has not yet obtained his Canadian citizenship.
The girls’ 1 m Group D final was tightly contested, with less than a point separating the gold and silver medallists. In the end, Avery Cowan (207.30, Windsor) came out on top, ahead of Blair Yan (206.40, White Rock). Saskatoon’s Jane Lafreniere (204.30) rounded out the podium.
“I feel really good and had an excellent day!” exclaimed the winner, who added a second gold medal to her tally. “I think I finished first because I changed my last dive to have a higher degree of difficulty. I did the same thing as in training,” concluded Cowan, who will be taking part in the platform competition on Saturday.
In the other final of the day, the Group D men’s platform, Hawksley Burnett (Regina) earned the judges’ favor. With a score of 227.40, he edged out Manolo Paquin (216.30, CAMO) and Philippe Wadsworth (204.45, KGTC), as the crowd was cheering loudly for the local athlete.
Burnett and Wadsworth stepped on the podium for the second time in Regina, after finishing second and first respectively in the 1 m event on Thursday.
“It’s awesome, because I did very well!” admitted the gold medallist, whose parents Sean and Melissa were national-level diving athletes in the early 2000s. “I had a few bad dives in the prelims, but was able to make it to the finals. I’m just proud to have participated in this competition and when I got here, I just wanted to make the final.”
The girls’ 3 m (Group C), girls’ platform (Group D) and boys’ 3 m (Group D) finals will be held on Saturday in Regina.
More information:
Alexandra Piché
Manager, Communications
Diving Canada
C: 514 625-5513
alexandra@diving.ca