Filion and Benfeito win silver at diving World Series

Roseline Filion & Meaghan Benfeito

SHEFFIELD, England – Roseline Filion of Laval, Que., and Meaghan Benfeito of Montreal earned their second silver medal this season in the women’s synchronized 10-metre event on Sunday on the FINA World Series diving circuit.

Wang Xin and Kang Li of China won the gold medal earning 348.36 points. Filion and Benfeito followed at 320.22 finishing ahead of Olympic silver medallists Briony Cole and Melissa Wu of Australia in third at 315.54.

The Canadian pair felt they successfully rebounded from subpar performances in yesterday’s individual event and the fourth place finish in the 10-metre synchro competition at the previous World Series stop last month in China.

“We had some super nice dives and didn’t make too many mistakes,” said Benfeito, fifth in the individual 10-metre event Saturday while Benfeito was seventh. “It feels like we’re back on the right track. The key for us was scoring well on our fourth which we had completely missed in China.”

Filion and Benfeito won the bronze medal at the 2005 world championships and 2006 Commonwealth Games and would like to climb on the podium this summer at the world championships in Rome.

“The synchro event is a strong one for us and we quickly forgot about yesterday once we started,” said Benfeito. “We scored well today with our synchronization on all five dives. We’re losing points with our individual dives and we continue on working to improve that.”

The fourth and final stop on the circuit is this Friday and Saturday in Mexico City.

About the FINA World Series

In 2009, there are four stops on the FINA Diving World Series which was originally launched in 2007.

Last year, Canadian divers won seven medals on the three stops of the 2008 FINA Diving World Series. The Canadian tandem of Émilie Heymans and Marie-Eve Marleau were crowned 10-meter synchro champions after winning one gold and two silver medals.

The Canadian team of Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion qualified for the 2009 FINA World Series based on their performances at the 2008 Olympic Games. Only the top-eight divers in each event are invited to compete in the World Series. At the 2008 Olympic Games, Benfeito and Filion were 7th in the 10-metre synchro event.

Medallists at the FINA Diving World Series receive important cash prizes.

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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