McCormick and Ross seventh on 10-metre synchro at world aquatic championships

July 25th, 2009

Reuben Ross & Riley McCormick

ROME – Reuben Ross of Regina and Riley McCormick of Victoria finished seventh in the men’s 10-metre synchro event on Saturday to conclude a successful world aquatic championships for the Canadian diving team.

Canada completed the competition with three medals – a silver and two bronze – and three more fourth place finishes. Canada won two medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

In Saturday’s 10-metre synchro, Huo Liang and Lin Yue gave China its seventh diving gold medal leading through all six rounds for 482.58 points. David Boudia and Thomas Finchum of the U.S., were second at 456.84 and Jose Guerra and Jeinkler Aguirre of Cuba were third at 456.60.

Ross and McCormick, fifth in the preliminaries, delivered another solid performance for 406.98 points.

“We didn’t put any objectives out there and it turned out to be a very strong competition for us,” said McCormick, 17. “We exceeded our expectations and we should only get better over the next couple of years.”

China earned seven golds, four silvers and three bronze in the 10 diving events. The United States, took four silvers and Canada was third in the total medal count.

Alexandre Despatie of Laval, Que., was involved in both Canadian bronze medals placing third on three-metre and three-metre synchro with Ross. Emilie Heymans of St-Lambert, Que., was second on women’s three-metre, Canada’s first ever medal in the event at worlds.

Fourth place finishes were earned by Meaghan Benfeito of Montreal on women’s 10-metre, Benfeito and Roseline Filion of Laval on 10-metre synchro and Melanie Rinaldi of Montreal and Jennifer Abel of Laval on women’s three-metre synchro.

“We’re really proud of this team,” said Mitch Geller, Diving Canada’s chief technical officer . “Our veterans showed they are still the great competitors and we also showed our depth and potential. It bodes really well for the next three years.

“Six top-four finishes in the eight Olympic events is remarkable.”

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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