Montréal, August 10, 2024 – Divers Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray closed out the Olympic diving events in Paris on Saturday by taking part in the men’s individual 10-metre event. For the first time in Canadian diving history, two Canadians qualified for the 10-metre final at the Olympic Games.
After placing third in Friday’s qualifiers and fifth in the semi-finals earlier on Saturday, Wiens went into the finals with one objective: to win a second Olympic medal.
Provisionally seventh after the first round, the Saskatchewan native made a nice comeback with his second and third attempts, increasing pressure on Britain’s Noah Williams, who eventually won the bronze medal with 497.35 points.
“The level of competition was very high. I felt I had begun well with my first three dives. My fourth and fifth weren’t as good, but still, I’m very proud of my overall performance,” said Wiens, following the competition at the Paris Aquatic Centre.
In the fifth round, things went south for the athlete from Saskatoon. His score of 42.90 relegated him to provisional sixth place. He finished the competition with a total score of 445.60 points.
“I think I’m going to take a bit of time now. I tried to keep my mind off the medal we won in the synchronized event, but now, I can let myself feel proud of my seventh-place finish and the fact that I’m going home with a medal. The medal probably makes it easier for me to accept finishing seventh today,” he added.
China’s Yuan Cao, who was heavily favoured to win, dominated the competition with a final score of 547.50, followed by Japan’s Rikuto Tamai (507.65 points).
Tenth place for Zsombor-Murray
Nathan Zsombor-Murray began the day with a score of 410.80 in the semi-finals, enabling him to advance to the finals.
In the end, however, he finished tenth with 404.90 points—a disappointing result for the Québécois.
“It wasn’t the performance I was hoping for. I have no excuse. I felt good physically and mentally, but it just wasn’t my day,” said the diver from Pointe-Claire.
“I’ll chalk it up as a learning experience. I really wanted to do better than I did today. But I did win one medal, and someday, when I’m older, I’ll be able to look at it and remember that at one time, I was a very high-level athlete. But right now, it’s hard.”
The Canadian duo of Wiens and Zsombor-Murray won bronze in the synchronized 10-metre event at the Paris Olympic Games last week. They were the first Canadian men to win an Olympic diving medal since Alexandre Despatie won the individual 3-metre event in Beijing in 2008.
More information:
Alexandra Piché
Manager, Communications
Diving Canada
C: 514 625-5513
alexandra@diving.ca