Despatie, Ross dive to record-setting gold at nationals
Last Updated: Saturday, June 27, 2009 | 7:09 PM ET
The Canadian Press
Canadaian diver Emilie Heymans competes en route to a silver medal at the women's 10-metre platform event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. (Andrew Medichini/Associated Press)Alexandre Despatie of Laval, Que., and Reuben Ross of Regina set a meet record score en route to the gold medal in the three-metre synchro Saturday at the Summer Nationals diving competition in Quebec City.
Despatie and Ross, who are tuning up for next month's world championships in Rome, racked up 430.23 points. They earned 9.0 out of a possible 10 on five of their six dives.
Olivier Morneau-Ricard and Demis Longoni of Quebec City were second at 301.38 and Brennan Villemaire of Ottawa and Austin Mix of London, Ont., were third at 281.88.
"Putting up this kind of score gives us a lot of confidence for the worlds and beyond," said Despatie, a silver medallist on three-metre at the last two Olympic Games. "Our synchronization was bang-on and we just need to clean up some details on our individual dives."
On the women's three-metre, three-time Olympic medallist Emilie Heymans of St-Lambert, Que., notched her fifth career national crown in the event with 326.40 points. Jennifer Abel of Laval, Que., was second at 311.40 and Pamela Ware of St-Hilaire, Que., posted a personal best 298.15 for third.
"It went super well," said Heymans, who switched her focus from tower to three-metre this season. "It's a very positive way to head into the world championships. There's still a lot of work to do at the technical level but I'm on the right track."
