Diving Canada – BOLZANO, Italy – Mia Vallée of Beaconsfield, Que., and Éloise Bélanger of Montreal advanced to the women’s three-metre final after strong performances in Thursday’s preliminaries and semifinals at the fourth stop on the FINA Grand Prix diving circuit.

The 16-year-old Vallée placed first in her semifinal heat with 253.05 points with Tammy Galera of Brazil second at 250.05 and Bélanger third at 249.05. The top-three from each of the two semis advanced to Friday’s final.

In the preliminaries, Bélanger was second and Vallée was eighth.

‘’We really wanted to get Mia and Éloise both in the final,’’ said Canadian national team coach Stéphane Lapointe. ‘’That augurs well for them and it’s a good experience.’’

On men’s 10-m tower, Tyler Henschel of Edmonton was eager to show why he had so much success on the NCAA circuit this season. After a great start by placing first in the prelims he missed the cut for the final by one spot in the semis.

Henschel, who holds diving school and conference records at Texas A&M where he studies sports management, was fourth in the his semifinal heat with 338.55. His score in the prelims was a personal best 406.05, the best of the day.

‘’I felt great going into the semis,’’ said Henschel, 22, the reigning Canadian champion and fifth on tower at the NCAA Championships this spring.

‘’I didn’t feel any more or less pressure. I was confident. I’ve had the best season of my career and my semifinal didn’t reflect that. I’m disappointed at the moment but I was pretty happy to compete here and make it to the semis.’’

On Wednesday, Cam McLean of Winnipeg and Ryan Grover of Victoria ranked 13^th and 15^th on men’s three-metre in the preliminaries and did not advance.

‘’It was a heartbreaking for the boys with the top-12 advancing,’’ said Lapointe.

Competition ends Friday.

Full results: http://www.grandprixbolzano.com/652-2/