American Brooke Schultz Wins 1-Meter Springboard At Junior World Championships

KNOXVILLE, TN - August 17, 2014: Michole Timm during the 2014 USA Senior Diving National Event Finals at Allan Jones Aquatic Center in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Matthew S. DeMaria

Photo Courtesy: Matthew S. DeMaria

PENZA, Russia, September 10. THE Penza’s sport complex “Burtasy” (which means tribe/population that lived on the right bank of the river Volga), where the 20th FINA World Junior Diving Championships have started today, will be one of the major spots on the city map until the end of the week. A huge screen 4×6 m has been constructed near the entrance of the venue so that everyone can take a look at what is going on in the pool: life broadcasting with comments is expected. A penguin mascot is walking around the arena and inside it, along the tribunes to cheer up the participants and to become a part of a “selfie” so popular nowadays among children and teenagers: young sportsmen of the local diving sports schools are the best fans. And the most outstanding Penza athletes in the field – Olympic champions Irina Kalinina and Yulia Pakhalina – were the guests at the opening ceremony.

Moreover, on the opening day, another Russian diver, two-time bronze Olympic medallist Gleb Galperin presented a diving show. A group of professional and amateur divers in sailor shirts made a spectacular and comic performance with acrobatic dives from the platform with a bike or even in a wash-basin.

While the public was excited and thrilled with risky dives, the Chairman of the FINA Technical Diving Committee Kathy Seaman was satisfied with the pool facilities and the work of the organising committee. At the opening press conference, she said: “All services are working successfully. We are impressed by the organisers. But still they have a lot to do. The junior championship is a big tournament. There are more competitions in the programme then during the Olympics: 6 days, 14 events in Group A (16-18 years old) and Group B (14-15 years old) divers. Good luck to all of them. Here we can see future stars and future winners of Olympic, World and European major events”.

On the first competition day, Chinese Huang Bowen (Group A) made the best to ensure the successful tradition of his country in the discipline and comfortably won, leading during the entire final on the 3m springboard. His advantage was so significant that he could even get zero for his last dive and become a champion. Russia’s Ilya Molchanov was the runner-up and could be on the second place but missed his fifth attempt. As a result, he finished fourth. His teammate Aleksandr Belevtsev, on the contrary, concentrated his effort towards the end of the competition: he entered the water like a string and got his 80 points, getting the first medal at home for Russia – silver. Bronze went to the best of the preliminaries – Diego Rodrigo from Mexico.

On his unexpected success, Belevtsev said: “I could hardly believe that I’m a medallist. I was sixth after the qualifying round and I had strong rivals in the final. But it comes out my main opponent is myself. I’m so happy that I’m on the podium”.

One more silver on 1m springboard (Girls B) but with another emotion went to Ekaterina Nekrasova (RUS). She couldn’t hold back tears and clenched a towel with her teeth as she missed gold in the last third dive. American Brooke Christine Schulz earned the title. Australian Georgia Sheehan took bronze.

On her performance, Nekrasova commented: “Of course I’m upset. I’ve made this dive perfectly so many times at practice. I’ll try to get revenge on 3m springboard”.

Results

Boys A – 3m springboard
1. Huang Bowen (China) – 636.60
2. Aleksandr Belevtsev (Russia) – 565.60
3. Diego Rodrigo (Mexico) – 562.65

Girls B – 1m springboard
1. Brooke Christine Schultz (USA) – 356.90
2. Ekaterina Nekrasova (Russia) – 353.95
3. Georgia Sheehan (Аustralia) – 344.65

The above article comes from a FINA report by Anna Kozina.

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