Montréal, July 16, 2023 – Nikos Tzanatakis stole the show on Sunday, the final day of the Montréal Junior National Diving Festival, which was held at the Parc Jean-Drapeau aquatic centre. After winning the platform event on Friday and the 1-metre event on Saturday, the diver from British Columbia captured his third gold medal of the week in the boys’ Group C 3-metre springboard final.
Almost 200 athletes from 27 clubs took part in the eight days of competition.
Tzanatakis, of the Boardworks club (347.60 points), bested Chase Shaw of Alberta (Calgary, 304.90) and Eloi Houle of Quebec (CAMO, 298.55).
“It was the toughest of all my competitions,” said the gold medallist. “All the other athletes were really good, and I was a bit nervous. I was bit surprised by my result. But the more you compete against good divers, the more you can improve and observe different techniques.”
According to Tzanatakis, the past week in Montréal has been an important step in his fledgling career. He will now have the opportunity to test himself against international opponents at the upcoming Pan-American Junior Diving Championships in Peru.
In the girls’ Group C platform event, Quebec’s Laurence Labadie (CAMO, 318.65) dominated the final in her “best competition ever,” edging out Saskatchewan’s Lauren Vickaryous (Regina, 267.65) and Quebec’s Daniela Iasinska (CAMO, 267.00).
Vickaryous won the 3-metre springboard event on Saturday.
“I tried to do the same thing I do in my training sessions. I did a new dive today (Sunday), which made it a little more stressful,” said Labadie, who was thrilled with her performance in the final. “I wasn’t necessarily trying for a medal. I just wanted to do my best.”
In the girls’ Group D 1-metre final, the top step of the podium was shared by guest athlete Yolanda Yiyao Xie (IDive, British Columbia, 229.10) and Sara-Jade Tessier (Envol, Quebec, 224.50). Ontario’s Charlee Ramirez (Windsor, 175.00) won silver and Saskatchewan’s Jane Lafreniere (Saskatoon, 174.80) won bronze.
Of all the medals she won this week, Sunday’s was the one that most delighted Tessier.
“I was less stressed, and I had more fun,” she said with a laugh, adding that after having won silver in Saturday’s platform event, where Ramirez won gold and Xie won bronze, she felt quite confident of winning today’s competition.
In the boys’ Group D 3-metre contest, guest athlete Oleksandr Sakun (ESPDC, 192.40) and Manitoba’s Gabriel Brombach (Revolution, 185.95) shared the top spot on the podium. They were joined by Ontarians Owen Dansereau (Nepean, 185.30) and Leonard Povzner (Optimal, 183.90).
To view the results, click here.
More information :
Alexandra Piché
Manager, Communications
Diving Canada
C: 514 625-5513
alexandra@diving.ca