Victoria to Host Diving Winter Senior Nationals

Diving Canada – Victoria, December 11^th 2018 – The 2018 Diving Winter Senior Nationals, to be held from December 14^thto 16^thin Victoria, BC, will field the top divers in the country. It launches the 2019 competitive season for the members of Canada’s national diving team who have set their sights on the FINA World Championships, to be held this summer in Gwangju, South Korea.  
 
The competition, hosted by Boardworks Diving Club and sanctioned by Diving Plongeon Canada and Dive BC, will feature 40 athletes from around the country at Victoria’s Saanich Commonwealth Place. The event will feature the individual events as well as the 3m and 10m synchro. 
 
Two finals will take place each day and the public ca attend the event for free.
 
The 3m and 10m synchro finals for both men and women will take place on Friday December 14^thstarting at 4 p.m. (local time). Saturday, the women’s 3m individual and men’s 10m preliminaries are set to begin at 10 a.m. The finals for these events will start at 2 p.m. Sunday, the men’s 3m and women’s 10m preliminaries will begin at 10 a.m. and finals will start at 2 p.m.
 
Olympic medalists Jennifer Abel and Meaghan Benfeito will be ones to watch on the women’s side, as well as Olympians François Imbeau-Dulac, Philippe Gagné and Vincent Riendeau on the men’s side.
 
“I am really happy to kick off the season with Nationals in Victoria. I haven’t competed in six months so I am very excited”, declared Jennifer Abel, eight-time World Championships medalist. “The goal is to break the ice and to make all the small technical changes I’ve been working on since September in a competitive environment. This year is a very important year with the World Aquatics Championships also serving as the country qualifiers for the Olympic Games.”
 
Meaghan Benfeito shares in her teammate’s enthusiasm: “I am super excited to get going. Training has been going well and this is a great opportunity to see where I’m at with my corrections”, explained the 3-time Olympic medalist. “I’ve made many changes since the beginning of the year so I am excited to put it all together in competition.”
 
The divers will take part in the first competition of a season that will also see them compete in Grand Prix and World Series events from February to June. These diving circuits will make stops in Calgary from April 4-7 (Canada Cup) and in Montreal from April 26-28 (Diving World Series #3). Next up will be the FINA World Championships from July 12-20and the PanAm Games from July 26-August 11 in Lima, Peru. 
 
The 2018 Diving Senior Winter Nationals will be webcast on CBC Sports.
 
Competition schedule:
 
Friday December 14th
4 pm: Men + Women 3mS
5:10 pm: Men + Women 10mS
 
Saturday December 15th
10 am: Women 3m Prelim
11:55 am: Men 10m Prelim
2 pm: Women 3m Final
3:35pm: Men 10m Final
 
Sunday December 16
10 am: Men 3m Prelim
12 pm: Women 10m Prelim
2 pm: Men 3m Final
3:50 pm: Women 10m Final
 
Here is the complete list of athletes taking part in the 2018 Senior Winter Nationals along with their affiliated Club and coach:
 
 
WOMEN
 

 
MEN