Canadian divers Abel, Heymans 1-2 for Canada in semifinal at Canada Cup FINA Grand Prix

April 29th, 2010

Jennifer Abel

MONTREAL – Jennifer Abel of Laval, Que., and Émilie Heymans of St-Lambert, Que., served notice they will battle the Chinese for the top podium spots in the women’s three-metre placing 1-2 in their semifinal Thursday at the Canada Cup FINA Grand Prix diving competition.

Abel totalled 330.90 points in the first of two semis while Heymans followed at 320.50. Katja Dieckow of Germany grabbed the third spot for the final with 300.90.

After placing second in the morning preliminaries, Abel appeared on track for another big score in the semis until she earned lower marks for her fourth dive, a reverse three and a half.

‘’It was a very strong semi I just missed my prelims score in the end by seven points,’’ said Abel, 18, a member of the 2008 Olympic and 2009 worlds teams. ‘’I was happy with how I quickly put that fourth dive behind me and came back strong to finish the round. Overall I was much more consistent today than I’ve been this season and that’s what helped get two very good scores.’’

Heymans, a three-time Olympic medallist, is battling through a hip injury which has hampered her performances this season. She was fourth in the preliminaries.

In the other semifinal, Han Wang and Jiao Liu, both of China, posted the top two scores of the day at 373.00 and 341.25 respectively.

Pamela Ware of Montreal was sixth in the preliminaries and Many Moran of Thunder Bay, Ont., ninth. Neither could advance because of a limit of two entries per country for the semis.

On men’s 10-metre tower, Riley McCormick of Victoria advanced to the final finishing third in his semifinal heat behind Jose Antonio Guerra of Cuba in first and Ai Sen Chen of China in second. Eric Sehn of Edmonton was sixth in the other semi and did not advance. In prelims, Kevin Geyson of Winnipeg was 12 th and Marc Sabourin-Germain of Montreal 16 th.

McCormick has battled shoulder and knee injuries this season.

‘’I’m feeling pretty sore,’’ said McCormick. ‘’I wasn’t feeling good entering this competition, so I’m really happy I was able to battle through being injured and tired. I’m really looking forward to the final. I’ve never competed in an international final in Canada.’’

Competition continues Friday.

More information and results: www.diving.ca

Thursday’s results at the Canada Cup FINA Grand Prix diving competition in Montreal:

WOMEN

Three-metre semifinal A (top-3 to final): 1. Jennifer Abel, Laval, Que., 330.90; 2. Emilie Heymans, St-Lambert, Que., 320.50; 3. Katja Dieckow, Germany, 300.90; 4. Anabelle Smith, Australia, 295.80; 5. Juliana Veloso, Brazil, 271.20; 6. Claire Febvay, France, 270.15.

Three-metre semifinal B (top-3 to final): 1. Han Wang, China, 373.00; 2. Jiao Liu, China, 341.25; 3. Sharleen Stratton, Australia, 304.30; 4. Summer Allman, U.S., 275.85; 5. Uschi Freitag, Germany, 268.40; 6. Rebecca Gallantree, Britain, 233.25.

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