Four medals for Canada at Grand Prix diving competition
Last Updated: Sunday, May 15, 2005 | 6:09 PM ET
CBC Sports
In addition, Montreal teenagers Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion added silver in the women's synchronized 10-metres and Philippe Comtois of Laval, Que., and Arturo Miranda of Pointe-Claire, Que., were also second in the men's three-metre synchro event.
On men's three-metre springboard, Despatie, the Olympic silver medallist in the event, earned his second consecutive Grand Prix gold earning 480.39 points despite balking on his third dive. Cesar Castro of Brazil was second in 457.38 and China's Xu Xiang third in 455.94.
In the third round, Despatie was set to attempt a reverse 3 1/2 somersault in tuck position but stopped at the end of the board. His restart thought went very well as he earned 8.0's and 9.0's but for each of those marks two points was deducted because of the balk.
Canada's Alexandre Despatie struck gold in the men's three-metre springboard on Saturday. (CP File Photo)
"I seem to always find a way to get myself into trouble," said Despatie, who also needed to make a big comeback last weekend in his Grand Prix win in Montreal. "But again I didn't give up and I think the highlight for me is how I came back after the balk and did a very strong dive. In fact, the three dives that followed were also very good."
On women's 10-metre tower, Heymans in her first international competition since the Olympics was the winner with 377.91 points. China's Jia Dongjin was second at 352.38 and Mexico's Paola Espinosa third at 350.38.
Heymans withdrew from last week's Grand Prix due to an arm injury. She even altered her dive list replacing a reverse 3 1/2 with a front 3 1/2 in order to minimize the pain on her arm. "I've missed some training because of the injury but I think I showed tonight my dives are still there," said Heymans, who'll look to defend her world title at the 2005 World Aquatic Championships July 17-31 in Montreal. "I just got better as the competition progressed. It was important to come here and make a strong impression."
In the women's synchronized 10-metre, Jia Tong and Chen Ni of China took the gold with 335.34 points followed by Benfeito and Filion in second in 302.04 with Natalia Goncharova and Yulia Koltunova of Russia third at 288.42.
At the Grand Prix in Montreal last week, Benfeito, 16, and Filion, 17, won the bronze in the same event. Filion also earned a bronze individually on tower at a Grand Prix in Russia in March.
On men's three-metre synchro, Wang Feng and He Cheng of China, who earned one perfect 10 on their fourth dive, took the gold with 377.40 points. Comtois and Miranda, in their first season together, followed in 315.66 for their first international medal together while Andreas Wels and Tobias Schelleberg of Germany were third in 314.64.
The Canadian pair was in sixth spot heading into the fifth and final round of dives. They nailed their last dive earning 79.56 points which was the second highest total after the Chinese to rocket up the standings.
"We had a really great competition," said Comtois. "All our dives were steady."
Martha Dale of Victoria and Mandy Moran of Calgary were fifth on the women's synchronized three-metre event.
courtesy Canadian Sport News
