Alexandre Despatie cruises to final at Canada Cup FINA Grand Prix

April 30th, 2010

Alexandre Despatie

MONTREAL – Canadian diving star Alexandre Despatie of Laval, Que., won the preliminary and semifinal rounds on the men’s three-metre springboard on Friday at the Canada Cup FINA Grand Prix diving competition at the Olympic Park Pool.

‘’It went very well, I’m very pleased,’’ said Despatie, a three-time world champion who’ll be the gold medal favourite in Sunday’s final. ‘’The key for me today was my consistency which is always crucial in a diving competition of this level. My semifinal was especially strong, the errors I made were minimal.’’

Eric Sehn of Edmonton was fifth in the same semifinal. The top-three in each of the two semifinals move on. Despatie and Sehn also earn spots on the Canadian team for the FINA World Cup later this year.

‘’Advancing to the semis was better than I expected,’’ said Seth, seventh in preliminaries. ‘’I just concentrated on what I needed to do and I was really fired up after not meeting my standards in the 10-metre. I’ve added a new inward dive to my list and I did it pretty well both times today.’’

François Imbeau-Dulac of St. Lazare, Que., was 12th in the prelims and Reuben Ross of Regina 15 th.

On women’s 10-metre tower, Rachel Kemp of Victoria advanced to the final placing second in her semifinal heat between two Chinese divers. Meaghan Benfeito of Montreal was fourth in the same semi missing a berth in the final by nine points. Kemp and Benfeito grab the two World Cup berths for Canada in the event.

‘’I had a great preliminaries and that just gave me a lot of confidence for the semifinal,’’ said Kemp, third in the morning prelims. ‘’My dives were way more consistent in the semis and I scored a lot more points on my first dive as well which really helped me out.’’

Roseline Filion of Laval was sixth in the preliminaries and did not advance because only the top-two from each country advance.

Competition continues Saturday.

More information and results: www.diving.ca

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

MEN

Three-metre semifinal A: 1. Evgeny Kuznetsov, Russia, 483.45; 2. Cesar Castro, Cuba, 457.80; 3. KenNee Yeoh, Malaysia, 443.50; 4. Bryan Nickson Lomas, Malaysia, 434.70; 5. Jorge Betancourt, Cuba, 398.75; 6. David Bonuchi, U.S., 365.25.

Three-metre semifinal B: 1. Alexandre Despatie, Laval, Que., 521.65; 2. Shixin Li, China, 497.55; 3. Scott Robertson, Australia, 466.35; 4. Mathieu Rosset, France, 435.60; 5. Eric Sehn, Edmonton, 421.65; 6. Min He, China, 402.10.

WOMEN

10-metre semifinal A: 1. Yulia Koltunova, Russia, 337.70; 2. Melissa Wu, Australia, 327.80; 3. Olga Vintonyak, Russia, 316.20; 4. Yaima Mena, Cuba, 300.75; 5. Alexandra Croak, Australia, 299.80; 6. Sarah Barrow, Britain, 285.25.

10-metre semifinal B; 1. Sinuo Ma, China, 398.65; 2. Rachel Kemp, Victoria, 369.15; 3. Jiao Liu, China, 361.35; 4. Meaghan Benfeito, Montreal, 352.75; 5. Helen Gallashan, Britain, 294.40; 6. Annie Rivera, Cuba, 224.05.

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