Diving Canada – So far so good for the Canadians at the Canada Cup FINA Diving Grand Prix in Calgary.

Day one saw Olympians Jennifer Abel, Pamela Ware, and Vincent Riendeau all move from preliminaries, to a semifinal, and on to a Saturday final at the Repsol Sport Centre. 

Abel, 27, won semifinal A of the women’s 3m springboard with a score of 323.10 points, while in semifinal B, 26 year-old Ware collected 293.25 points, good for second-place. 

At a Diving Grand Prix, the top three athletes from each semi move on to the final. 

On men’s 10m platform, Riendeau, 22, picked up 393.50 points, good for second in semifinal A and a spot in the weekend final. 

Young Canadians on the rise

Victoria’s Bryden Hattie, 17, was excited to nab a semifinal spot in Calgary, “I woke up very nervous, not knowing what to expect, I was doing warm-up for prelims and everything was super tight and I was cold and I said to myself ‘Just do every dive individually and you’ll get through it,’” said the prospect from Boardworks Diving Club.

“I got a good score which I’m also happy about,” said Hattie, who put together 334.10 points to finish sixth in semifinal A. 

Tyler Henschel, of Sherwood Park, Alb. was 17th (336.80 points) in prelims and didn’t advance, neither did Nathan Zsombor-Murray, from Pointe-Claire, Que.

Zsombor-Murray, just 15 years of age, was eighth in prelims (378.70 points), but only two Canadians can advance to the semis, so he was out of luck.

Calgary’s Aimee Wilson got her first shot at a Diving Grand Prix today, “I’m disappointed with how I did but it’s my first Grand Prix ever and my second international competition ever so I have to cut myself some slack,” said the 19 year-old, “Overall I can be happy with how I did because I’m happy with certain dives and I know the improvements I have to make and hopefully I get more opportunities to have this kind of experience again.”

Wilson was 17th in the women’s 3m prelims with 224.55 points, ahead of her teammate Olivia Chamandy, of Montreal, who earned 219.70 points and a 21st-place finish, “Overall I’m not super satisfied but it was my first international competition this year and my first competition this year so I guess I can cut myself some slack, but there are certain things I would have liked to accomplish that I didn’t so that’s why I’m kind of upset but I guess there’s room for learning and improvement,” said the 18 year-old Chamandy.

Day two at the Canada Cup will feature the prelims and semis of the men’s 3m and women’s 10m.

Full results can be found here: http://www.issmembership.com/diving/live/schedule.aspx

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For more information:

 

Maëlle Dancause

Manager, Public Relations

Diving Plongeon Canada

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