Montréal, July 26, 2025 – Montréal’s Simone Leathead made a spectacular comeback on Saturday, capturing silver in the high diving competition at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
With her six dives, the 22-year-old athlete amassed a total of 314.50 points, finishing behind Australia’s Rhiannan Iffland (359.25) and ahead of the USA’s Maya Kelly (310.00). Molly Carlson of Montréal finished ninth with 271.90 points.
For Iffland, who led the standings from the outset of the preliminary rounds, today’s world title is her fifth.
After her first four of six dives in the 20m platform finals, Leathead held provisional tenth place, while her countrymate Carlson held second. After the fifth round, Carlson was still in second place, only 24.35 points behind Iffland, while Leathead had climbed to fourth.
The athletes’ sixth and final attempts completely shook up the standings: Leathead moved into second place with a dive worth 90.00 points, while Carlson slipped into ninth after receiving her lowest score of the competition (39.90).
“My first thought is that I’m very proud of myself!” said the silver medallist, after stepping onto the World Championships podium for the first time in her career.
“The competition wasn’t easy, and I’m not used to diving competitions that last three days. Also, on the final day, there was a long delay due to the weather, so we had to deal with that, too. I’m really proud of having been able to dive the way I did, when it really counted. And my mother was in the stands, which made it even better!”
For Team Canada coach Stéphane Lapointe, the fact that Leathead won Canada’s first medal at these world championships came as no surprise.
“Simone has always worked extremely hard. For us, the World Championships are like the Olympics. In her last six international competitions, Simone has finished on the podium five times. She’s one of the best in the world, which she demonstrated today. It’s a wonderful reward for all her hard work and her talent!”
The coach also praised Carlson’s resilience, despite the fact that her final dive may have cost her the podium.
“Molly lifted her arms, and she paid dearly for it [in points]. But I’m very proud of her. Just last month, she had an accident in Italy [editor’s note: Carlson slipped before executing a dive]. But despite that, she showed up here ready to give it her all,” explained Lapointe. Carlson won silver at both the 2023 and 2024 World Championships.
“For Molly, being here put a lot of pressure on her, so I’m proud of the fact that she took part in the competition. It’s a bit of a tough time for her, but she’ll come back even stronger.”
The final two rounds of the men’s 27m high diving competition will take place on Sunday. After four dives, Michael Foisy (307.60) holds provisional 15th place, 144.70 points behind Constantin Popovici of Romania, who leads the standings.
In the women’s 1m springboard event on Saturday, neither Margo Erlam nor Sonya Palkhivala secured a spot in the finals by finishing in the top twelve. Erlam (234.65) finished 17th in the preliminaries, while Palkhivala (218.75) finished 24th.
In the mixed team competition, Carson Paul, Katelyn Fung, Amélie-Laura Jasmin, and Matt Cullen placed tenth with a score of 349.20. The Chinese team won the event with 466.25 points. The Canadian team got off to a slow start, placing 21st after the first dive, but later moved up in the standings.
Tazman Abramowicz will be the only Canadian to compete in the men’s 1m springboard event on Sunday.
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