Canadian divers Filion and Benfeito fourth in 10-metre synchro at world championships

July 19th, 2009

Roseline Filion & Meaghan Benfeito

ROME – Roseline Filion of Laval, Que., and Meaghan Benfeito of Montreal were edged by the narrowest of margins for the bronze and settled for fourth in the women`s 10-metre synchro event in diving action on Sunday at the world aquatic championships.

Olympic champions Ruolin Chen and Xin Wang earned China’s third gold of the competition tabulating 369.18 points by posting the top scores in all five rounds in the final. However there was a fierce battle for the silver and bronze between four countries.

Mary Beth Dunnichay and Haley Ishimatsu of the U.S., jumbled the standings with a strong final dive to climb from fourth to second at 324.66. Mun Yee Leong and Pandelela Rinong Pamg of Malaysia dropped from second to third on their last dive and finished at 321.66.

Filion and Benfeito, second in the morning preliminaries, totalled 321.29 points and Olympic silver medallists Melissa Wu and Briony Cole were fifth at 320.58 after standing second after round 2. The Canadians were in third place after the third and fourth rounds.

“Fourth place is the most heartbreaking position and I’m feeling that today,” said Filion, 22, a bronze medallist in the event with Benfeito at the 2005 worlds in Montreal. “When it’s that close you think of all the little things you could have improved upon. We had a great international season this year and we were going for the medal here. We felt everything was in place for that to happen.”

On women’s one-metre, veteran Julia Pakhalina of Russia was first after all five rounds to win the gold with 325.05 points for her third career world title. Minxia Wu of China was second at 311.90 and her compatriot Han Wang third at 303.95.

Both Canadian entries reached the final. Canadian champion Melanie Rinaldi of Montreal was 10 th and Jennifer Abel of Laval 12 th. Rinaldi was seventh entering the final round but her twisting dive didn’t go as expected.

“I’m pleased with four of my five dives,” said Rinaldi, 29. “On the last dive there was an error that I didn’t expect. My knees blocked on the springboard and it was very difficult to complete the dive. It’s a new dive for me this year but I can usually do it very well. But it demands a lot of strength and I wasn’t able to generate that on the take-off.”

On-line: http://www.diving.ca/english/html/events/2009/WC09.htm

About the 13th World Aquatic Championships
The 13th FINA World Aquatic Championships will take place July 17th to August 2nd, 2009 in Rome, Italy.In total, 2556 athletes from 185 countries will be competing in swimming, diving, water polo, synchronized swimming, and open water swimming. This 2009 edition of the championship is the biggest one in history. The previous mark was set in 2007 in Melbourne when 2158 athletes represented 167 countries.

In diving, 200 athletes from 43 nations will face-off in the ten events taking place between July 17th and 25th at Foro Italico in
Rome.A total of 400,000 spectators are expected to attend and watch the ‘best of the best’ in world aquatics.

The FINA World Championships began in Belgrade (YUG) in 1973 and had the participation of 696 athletes from 47 countries.

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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