Music: {allcanada} Silvers for Canadian divers at Canada Cup

Saturday, May 3, 2014

{allcanada} Silvers for Canadian divers at Canada Cup

GATINEAU, Que. — Olympic medallists Jennifer Abel, Roseline Filion and Meaghan Benfeito earned silver medals on Saturday at the Canada Cup Grand Prix diving competition.

Abel, from Laval, Que., took second place on the women’s three-metre springboard with 339.60 points. Ying Wei of China took gold with 356.30 points, Uschi Freitag of the Netherlands was third at 332.15, and Pamela Ware of Beloeil, Que., was fifth.

Benfeito and Filion, meanwhile, were given silver medals following their performance in women’s 10-metre synchro. The duo, who is four-for-four in podium appearances this season in international competition, scored 323.67 points.

“I’m extremely pleased,” said Abel, who placed third at the London 2012 Olympic Games in three-metre synchro with Emilie Heymans. “I was solid from prelims, through the semis to the final. I was subpar on my first two dives today but I came back with solid dives.”

The highlight for Abel was her reverse in the last round in the final. It was one she struggled with last season.

“It’s still hit and miss but today I hit it,” she said. “I never thought that one day it would be the last dive on my list. I’ve changed a lot of things this year including the order of my dives. But I felt comfortable here, especially being at home. That’s a reflection of gaining confidence and having experience.”

In women’s 10-metre synchro, Qian Ren and Siyu Ji of China were first with 332.52 points followed by Benfeito and Filion with their season-best score. Giovana Almeida and Ingrid Olivetta of Brazil were third at 275.66 and Carol-Ann Ware of Beloeil, Que., and Eloise Belanger of Montreal placed fourth with 264.24.

“Our buildup this season has been on track and we had our best performance of the year today,” said Filion. “Our synchronization was really improved especially on our first two dives. The work we are putting into it is slowly starting to show on the scoreboard.”

On the men’s 10-metre tower, Liang Huo of China scored one perfect mark en route to the gold with 534.35 points. Yanquan Zhang, also of China, earned five perfect 10′s, but missed a dive to settle for silver at 491.95, and Steele Johnson of the U.S., was third at 474.70. Maxim Bouchard of St. Constant, Que., was fifth at 414.85.

Philippe Gagne of Montreal and Francois Imbeau-Dulac of St-Lazare, Que., were fourth in men’s three-metre synchro, and Marc Sabourin-Germain of Montreal and Bouchard were sixth.

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