April 23, 2017
Leclerc nears podium at Dresden International
Diving – DRESDEN, Germany – Mélodie Leclerc of Montreal came within one spot of a second podium finish at the Dresden International diving competition on Saturday placing fourth on women’s three-metre in the 14-15 age group.
Polina Saekova of Russia won the gold medal with 363.70 points with Holly Waxman of Britain second at 363.10 and Emilia Nilsson Garip of Sweden third at 360.25.
Leclerc, the bronze medallist on the platform Friday, followed at 350.40. She was first after preliminaries.
‘’Mélodie dove extremely well and didn’t miss anything until she made a small mistake on her last dive which potentially cost her the medal,’’ said Stéphane Lapointe, head coach at Montreal’s Club CAMO. ‘’She showed today she is an elegant diver who finishes well. An area she definitely needs improvement are her jumps on take-off.’’
Simone Leathead of Montreal was 20th in the preliminaries.
Other Canadian results: Mia Vallée of Beaconsfield, Que., and Aimee Wilson of Calgary were seventh and eighth on women’s 16-18 one-metre; Nathan Zsombor-Murray of Pointe-Claire, Que., and Thomas Ciprik of Calgary were seventh and eighth on men’s 14-15 platform and Laurent Gosselin-Paradis of Montreal and Alexandre Corriveau of Terrebonne, Que., were fifth on men’s three-metre synchro.
‘’It was the first time Laurent and Alexandre competed together in a competition,’’ said Lapointe. ‘’They were excellent with their synchronisation but both made a mistake on the same dive. But the goal for them was to get the feel of competition because they compete tomorrow on the men’s platform.’’
Competition ends Sunday.
Full results: index