Melissa Wu Leads Diving Australia’s 10-Athlete World Championships Roster

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Photo Courtesy: Facebook - Budapest 2017

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Led by Olympic silver medalist Melissa Wu, a mixed team of veterans and rookies will represent Australia at the 2017 FINA Diving World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. The diving portion of competition will take place between July 14 and July 22.

After qualifying for her first World Championships in 2007 at the age of 14, Wu earned her first international medal by taking the silver in the 10-meter synchro competition. She then won silver at 2008 Rio Olympic Games in the same event. Her efforts also earned her silver at the 2011 World Championships and bronze at the 2015 games.

She finished a disappointing fifth in Rio, but after recovering from injury, is diving better now than she did in 2016.

“I’m glad to be coming back from injury,’’ Wu told The Australian. “My back got to the point where it was really bad and we scanned it and I had stress fractures on one side and a stress reaction on the other so I had to rest it so it didn’t crack all the way through. I missed the early World ­Series events this year and then went to the second World Series and my back was feeling better so I decided to enter the last individual event and that went pretty well.’’

At this stop in Canada, Wu split the Olympic Champion and silver medalists on 10-meter. Si Yajie, who took silver in Rio won with 390.60 points, while Olympic champion Ren Qian claimed third. Wu was second with 384.00. Between her efforts in Canada and the recent Australian Open, Wu has expressed her confidence in her diving.

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World Championships Trials are done! Happy with my results and excited to have been named on the Australian Team for 3 events at World Championships in Budapest. Big thank you to my sponsor @funkitaswimwear for your ongoing support and my super funky training gear. And to my coach @chava_sobrino and all of the @nswinstituteofsport coaches and support staff who have worked tirelessly this year to keep this old body moving. Thanks also to @coachady88 for giving me a fresh outlook on training and competing this year. Team Australia is looking strong and I’m looking forward to a great trip with awesome teammates! @divingaus #divingfamily #team #Australia #athlete #worldchampionships #budapest #funkita #lovefunkita #diving #diver

A post shared by Melissa Wu (@melissapaigewu) on

According to the Australian Olympic Committee, the Australian Open was the qualifying meet for Budapest, and scores throughout every round of competition were considered.

Wu will compete in three events, 10-meter platform, 10-meter synchro and 10-meter mixed synchro.

“I’m still loving diving at the moment and I’m really enjoying training and competing. I’ve changed my training up a bit lately to better manage my injuries and introduce a bit more variety and it’s given me a fresh outlook on diving and I’m really excited for what this year will bring,” Wu said.

Her partners will be Taneka Kovchenko and Declan Stacey, who will be making his World Championships debut after switching to diving from gymnastics. Both athletes will also dive in the 10-meter platform individual competition.

Rio Olympian Domonic Bedggood will contest the one-meter springboard, individual platform, the platform synchro, the mixed platform synchro and the mixed springboard synchro after posting one of his career-best meets.

Maddison Keeney and Annabelle Smith will make an attempt to defend their bronze-medal performance on three-meter synchro, while also competing in the individual event as well. Keeney will also serve as Bedggood’s partner for the springboard synchro contest.

Rio Olympian Kevin Chavez will dive in the 1-metre, 3-metre and 3 metre synchro while Esther Qin will dive one-meter springboard.

16-year-old Matthew Carter will make his senior World Championships debut, competing in the 3-meter synchro. James Connor will round out the team by diving 10-meter platform.

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Tommy Michaël
Tommy Michaël
6 years ago

You need the check you facts on who is diving with who and what events, then rewrite this article

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