Emilie Heymans wins silver in return to three-metre at Canada Cup

May 3rd, 2009

Émilie Heymans

MONTREAL - Three-time Olympic medallist Emilie Heymans of St-Lambert, Que., marked her return to the three-metre springboard on Sunday with a silver medal performance at the 13-country Canada Cup diving competition.

Jennifer Abel of Montreal followed Heymans for the bronze while Meaghan Benfeito of Montreal and Roseline Filion of Laval, Que., added a silver medal on women’s 10-metre synchro. Canada ends the meet with seven medals (two gold, four silver and a bronze), the most medals it’s ever won at the Canada Cup, which is also a stop on the FINA Grand Prix circuit.

On women’s three-metre, Sharleen Stratton of Australia took the gold with a strong last dive earning 347.05 points. Heymans leader entering the last round took second at 335.85 while a powerful finish enabled Abel to claim the bronze.

This was Heyman’s first competition since her Olympic silver medal performance on 10-metre last summer and her first foray on three-metre internationally since 2007. Heymans decided this season to focus on three-metre exclusively.

“It was a great weekend for me,” said Heymans. “I was in control on my take offs and that gave me a lot of confidence. The biggest challenge for me on three-metre is adjusting to the moving board. I have to be patient and it’s something that takes some time to feel comfortable with.”

Abel botched her back two and half in the third round, the same dive that hurt her at the Olympics last year. However she came back and posted the second best international point total of her career.

“I’m extremely pleased,” said Abel, 17. “And the highlight for me is coming back strong from that third dive. It’s a dive that use to be one of my best but I’m trying to improve the take-off and the timing tends to go off if I go too high.”

On women’s 10-metre synchro, Melissa Wu and Briony Cole of Australia won the gold medal with 335.28 points, Benfeito and Filion followed at 323.10, their best score this year, and Stefanie Anthes and Maria Kurjo of Germany were third at 297.75. It was a second medal this weekend for Benfeito and Filion, 1-2 Saturday on the individual tower.

Benfeito and Filion have been Canada’s busiest divers in 2009 with seven meets on their resume already. They’ve also competed this year at all four World Series events, the Grand Prix in Germany and the Winter Nationals. They have won six medals in total as a synchro pair this season including two gold.

“We were really charged this weekend from competing in our hometown,” said Benfeito, 20. “We dove with a lot of energy. I think we can only get better from competing this often. We are always learning something and it’s a great preparation for the world championships.”

On men’s three-metre synchro juniors Cody Kolodziejzyk and Brandon Makinson, both of Calgary, finished fifth in their international debut.

Full information, including results available at http://canadacup.diving.ca/?lang=EN

About the FINA Grand Prix
Held since 1995, the FINA Grand Prix is similar in format to the World Cups in alpine skiing and speed skating. This season there are five stops, including the Canada Cup from April 30-May 3 in Montreal, Quebec. The Canada Cup is held in large part due to the support of The Government of Quebec and Sport Canada.

About Diving Plongeon Canada
Diving Plongeon Canada (DPC) was established in 1967 as a not-for-profit organization to promote the growth and awareness of the sport in this country. As a member of FINA, the world’s governing body of aquatic sports, DPC contributes to the development of globally accepted standards of excellence in diving and supports the rules and regulations of international competition. Representing nine provincial diving associations, 67 local diving clubs and close to 4,000 high performance athletes, DPC shares a national commitment to advance the art and sport of diving and to position Canada as the number one diving nation of the world.  For information, visit www.diving.ca.

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