China Dominates Another FINA Diving World Cup Stop

Photo Courtesy: R-Sport / MIA Segodnya

With the 20th edition of the FINA Diving World Cup coming to an end today (February 24) in Rio de Janeiro (BRA), some nations have already secured a spot in the Olympic Games next summer but the battle is still going fierce for more countries to qualify for the world’s biggest sport event to take place in August.

The Diving World Cup, which doubles up as a test and qualifying event for the 2016 Olympic Games, welcomed many stars from around the world and approximately 250 athletes from 50 countries over the six-day competition.

Despite some challenging weather conditions most athletes were happy to be able to train in an open pool in Olympic-alike conditions.

Among others, Jamaican rising star, Yona Knight-Wisdom surprised the audience by grabbing the silver medal in the men’s 3m with 459.25 points. Knight-Wisdom became the first ever male Jamaican diver to qualify for an Olympic Games. Rommel Pacheco (competing under the FINA flag) secured the gold and the bronze medal was taken by the American Kristian Ipsen.

In the women’s operations, World silver medallist Ren Qian (CHN) won the 10m platform on her birthday (she turned 15) partly thanks to the perfect 10-points mark that was attributed to her last dive.

With regards to the synchronised events, the Chinese pair Chen Ruolin / Liu Huixia topped the 10m platform, while Malaysian and British pairs respectively ranked second and third. Germany’s Stephan Feck and Patrick Hausding were the strongest in the 3m.

On Day 5, FINA Best female diver of 2015, China’s Shi Tingmao (gold) and teammate He Zi (silver) dominated the women’s 3m springboard. Canadian Jennifer Abel won the bronze medal with an amazing performance edging from her initial 12th and last place after the first round.

Results are provided by FINA partner OMEGA

The final day of competition (February 24) will host the men’s 10m semi-final as well as the final.

FINA contributed this report.

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