RIO DE JANEIRO – Tuesday marked another exciting day of world championship diving in Rio – but it was long because several of the preliminary-round scores from earlier in the day carried over into the afternoon’s finals.  When it was over, divers from Ukraine, Mexico, and Canada had claimed gold, silver, and bronze in the boys group B platform event (ages 14-15). And in the girls group A 1m competition (for ages 16-18), China’s Long Yiping and Liu Jiadan took gold and bronze, respectively, and Lanie Gutch of the US claimed silver.  

Detailed recaps and quotes follow.

Boys’ B – Platform

In the boys’ group B platform event, eight dives determined the winner (the first four dives from prelims, and four dives held in the final).  After the first four preliminary dives were added, Claude-Olivier Lise-Coderre of Canada led the field with 166.30 points. His teammate Kash Tarasoff was next, with 164.15. 

Once the final began, Lise-Coderre’s first three dives scored in the 60s, enabling him to cling to his lead. At the same time, Mark Hrytsenko of the Ukraine immediately shot up from eighth place into the runner-up slot and stayed there with a big first and third dive. His inward 3½ scored 70.40 points and, later, his armstand back double earned 72.00.  With one dive to go, only 1.05 points separated the two divers from Montreal and Kiev… and third place was anyone’s game.

Lise-Coderre saved one of his easiest optional dives for last, but the reverse 2½ he used for the closer was imperfect and scored only 50.40 points. Four divers later, 14-year-old Mateo Zacai Nolasco Zenteno of Mexico put down a clean back 2½ with 1½ twist to overtake the Lise-Coderre. That’s when Hrytsenko went big and got the highest score of the final round: 73.60 points for his clean back 2½ with 1½ twist to snare gold with 424.35 points.

Nolasco Zenteno of Mexico earned silver with 404.15. Canada’s Lise-Coderre claimed the bronze (402.20). None of the other finalists cleared 400 points. But China’s Wang Liangjie, who placed fourth with 389.10 points, posted the highest dive score of the day: 75.90 on his back 3½ in the penultimate round.

Hrytsenko’s victory was his first gold medal in his junior world championship debut, but he had already helped Ukraine take bronze in the mixed team event on Day 1. Winning the individual gold seemed harder, he said. “Junior divers are very good. It’s so difficult if you have, in morning, bad result, like eighth place.” His second dive almost cost him the victory, but he excelled under pressure.

Hrytsenko is one of 14 divers who made the trip from Ukraine to Brazil. Back home, the fighting continues in the capital where he trains. “It’s so difficult training when you have some bombs, some rockets,” he said. “Every day you say, ‘Good morning,’ but the second day, you can’t say, ‘Good morning’ because you don’t know what happened [overnight].”

Boys group B silver medalist Nolasco Zenteno proved that Mexico’s talent runs deep. It was the country’s fourth medal in five events so far. The Oaxaca native who trains in Mexico City said that the key to his medal was that “I trained a lot with my coach and during training, she received me with hugs, with love. That’s it. That’s the key for this.” Asked what he would do with the silver, Nolasco Zenteno said, “Nothing special, but I will enjoy it a lot.”

Bronze medalist Lise-Coderre said he didn’t wake up Tuesday expecting a medal, but “I knew I could do my dives well. I really focused on my compulsories. In finals, I really wanted to enjoy it and give it all. In my reverse, my last dive, I had a little too much power. My takeoff was really good. I was spinning really fast and underestimated the rotation so I went a little bit over. It’s okay. I’m 15.”

Girls’ A – 1m Springboard

In the girls’ group A 1m springboard event, nine dives determined the winner. Scores from the first five dives in prelims were added to four dives held in the final, and the highest total score determined the winner.

China’s Long held the lead after prelims, and she led after all four of the final-round dives. She didn’t have the hardest list in the final (nothing over 2.6 DD), but she never botched a dive, either, and won with 404.45 points.

“This is my first international competition; I feel very excited,” Long said, adding that she was able to win because, “I believed in myself and my very good training. I train five or six hours a day in Beijing.”

Runner-up Gutch entered the final in second place, started strongly, and was only 1.35 points behind Long with two dives to go. But the University of North Carolina freshman scored only 45.00 and 49.00 points on her last two dives to finish 19.15 points behind Long for silver.

“I was just trying to keep my composure and remind myself: whatever happens, I’m still a human being and that none of this really matters at the end of the day,” Gutch said. “Honestly, I went into it with no [expectations]. I just wanted to do my best, and the medal would come with that.”

Perhaps the surprise of the day was that Long’s teammate Liu took the bronze with 355.90 points. Liu entered the final with the lowest total after the first five dives in prelims (the ones whose scores carried over into the final) so she had to make up more ground than any of the other 11 finalists. In the final, she was 10^th place after each of the first two dives. She inched up to ninth on the penultimate dive. And when the rest of the field faltered on their final dives, she tied Long for the highest score of the round: 54.60 points for the same dive that Long had just done, a reverse 1½ with 1½ twists.

Before her last dive, Lui said she simply told herself, “Believe in yourself and have a good dive,” adding that she trains seven or eight hours a day.

Coming Up Next

Wednesday will feature two more finals: boys’ synchro platform and 3m springboard for girls ages 16-18.