Olympic berth and two synchro silvers for Canadian divers at FINA World Championships

Olympic berth and two synchro silvers for Canadian divers at FINA World Championships

KAZAN, Russia – Jennifer Abel of Laval, Que., and Pamela Ware of Beloeil, Que., took silver on women’s three-metre synchro and earned an Olympic berth for Canada while Meaghan Benfeito of Montreal and Vincent Riendeau of Pointe-Claire, Que., were also second on 10-m mixed synchro on Saturday in diving action at the FINA World Championships.

Tingmao Shi and Minxia Wu of China won the women’s three-metre synchro with 351.30 points.  Abel and Ware improved upon their bronze medal performance from the last worlds in 2013 with 319.47 while Samantha Mills and Esther Qin of Australia were third in 304.20.

"The goal here was to get on the podium and get the Olympic spot for Canada," said Ware.  "We did our first two compulsory dives better than ever and that really set the tone for the rest of the competition. Two years ago was our first season together so it is really great to see how we’ve improved."

Mixed synchro diving made its worlds debut on Saturday.  Benfeito and Riendeau took the silver with 309.66 points climbing back from fourth spot with a strong fifth and final twisting dive.  They edged Dominic Bedggood and Melissa Wu of Australia by 1.5 points.  Yajie Si and Xiaohu Tai of China were the winners at 350.88.

"We had a great start to the competition but had some individual troubles on the fourth dive," said Riendeau. "That hurt us in the standings so it was great to comeback a get a satisfying finish.  Now we have something build on for the future."

Riendeau says the mixed synchro experience has made him a better diver. This year on the FINA World Series circuit they collected five silver medals in six events.

"It’s been an incredible experience to dive with Meaghan," he said.  "I’m so grateful to have had that opportunity.  There were some challenges especially with the height difference.  But we were able to overcome that and adapt and enjoy a lot of success."

Competition continues Sunday with the women’s 10-m synchro featuring Olympic bronze medallists Benfeito and Roseline Filion of Laval, Que.

Full results: http://www.omegatiming.com/Competition?id=00010F0006FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF&;sport=AQ&year=2015