Diving Plongeon Canada – Saturday was finally an excellent day for Celina Toth.

The Victoria native didn’t miss a dive and walked away with the women’s 10m platform gold medal in Saskatoon, adding her name to the list of nominated athletes for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

It was sweeter for Toth because she missed qualifying for the FINA World Championships last summer.

“Today I’m really proud of what happened,” said the 25 year-old, “In the past couple of events I’ve been pretty strong but haven’t been able to put down a performance nationally that would get me on a solid team.”

Toth scored 366.75 points, well clear of Edmonton diver Elaena Dick’s score of 313.50 points. Calgary’s Caeli McKay was third with 310.35 points.

“I was really happy that everything came together and I could finally show what I’ve been working on,” said Toth, who is coached in Victoria by Tommy McLeod.

“I came out of the water after my last dive and I looked at Tommy and I was like, ‘Finally!’,” said Toth.

“Finally, I did what I know l can do.”

A strong and healthy Philippe Gagné won the men’s 3m springboard gold medal with 456.40 points.

The Montrealer is returning from a long off-season that included nearly a month break, and some dedicated rehabilitation of a low back injury that hampered him late last season.

He says he felt no ill effects on Saturday, “I felt really strong on the board,” said Gagné, “I was really stable all across today and I think it’s a reflection of my training.”

The 2016 Olympian beat Peter Thach Mai (443.80 points) and third-placed François Imbeau-Dulac (433.60 points).

Gagné is excited to be nominated for the Commonwealth Games.

“It’s always fun to go to Games having all these sports and in Australia too, in Gold Coast, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

The Winter Senior Nationals conclude on Sunday in Saskatoon, Sask. with the women’s 3m and men’s 10m platform.

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For more information:

Maëlle Dancause

Manager, Communications

Diving Plongeon Canada

C: 514-475-4540 | maelle@diving.ca