Alexandre Despatie wins dramatic gold on three-metre at Canada Cup

May 2nd, 2010

Alexandre Despatie

MONTREAL – Three-time world champion Alexandre Despatie of Laval, Que., nailed his final dive for near perfect marks to win the gold medal on men’s three-metre springboard on Sunday at the Canada Cup FINA Grand Prix diving competition.

Despatie finished with 525.25 points edging Shixin Li of China who totalled 524.10. Scott Robertson of Australia was third at 458.15.

In the last round, Despatie was able to maintain his lead by scoring a string of 9.0’s and 9.5’s on his twisting dive. Li’s final twisting dive had an off the charts 3.9 degree of difficulty but he got mostly 8.0s and 8.5’s and it wasn’t enough to catch the Canadian star.

“I knew going into my last dive it was very close,” said Despatie. “Either way you always want to finish the competition with a strong dive. I was ready to fight until the finish. I’ve had bigger wins in my career but for where I am at this point with all the injury troubles I’ve had, it’s great to be on a bit of a roll.”

In 2010 so far, Despatie has three international medals including two gold on the individual three-metre. He also won here on Saturday with Reuben Ross of Regina on three-metre synchro.

Canada earned its second medal and fourth of the meet in the women’s three-metre synchro event as Emilie Heymans of St-Lambert, Que., and Jennifer Abel of Laval took the silver. Han Wang and Lin Qu of China were the winners and Sharleen Stratton and Briony Cole of Australia third. Rachel Kemp and Morgan Weller of Victoria were sixth.

“This was only our second meet together and we are already seeing a lot of improvement,” said Abel. “The score was better and the third dive that we struggled on at our last meet was superior this time around. Still there’s lots of room for improvement.”

In the women’s 10-metre, Kemp was edged for a medal by only 10 points finishing fourth. Sinuo Ma of China, who notched perfect 10’s on three of her five dives in the final, won gold, her compatriot Jiao Liu was second and Melissa Wu of Australia third.

“I’m really happy with the performance,” said Kemp, 17, in her third Grand Prix final over the past two seasons. “I was really nervous at first but the cheers I got from the crowd took a whole bunch of stress off of me and helped me relax. Making the final at this event was a big step for me.”

The competition was also a qualifying meet for the Canadian divers for the FINA World Cup June 2-6 in China.

More information and results: www.diving.ca

Sunday' s leading results at the Canada Cup FINA Grand Prix diving competition in Montreal (all finals):

MEN

Three-metre: 1. Alexandre Despatie, Laval, Que., 525.25; 2. Shixin Li, China, 524.10; 3. Scott Robertson, Australia, 458.15.

WOMEN

Three-metre synchro: 1. Han Wang and Lin Qu, China, 339.90; 2. Jennifer Abel, Laval, Que., and Emilie Heyma ns, St-Lambert, Que., 317.70; 3. Sharleen Stratton and Briony Cole, Australia, 309.78; 6. Rachel Kemp, Victoria and Morgan Weller, Victoria, 290.70.

10-metre: 1. Sinuo Ma, China, 462.55; 2. Jiao Liu, China, 366.85; 3. Melissa Wu, Australia, 366.75; 4. Rachel Kemp, Victoria, 356.60.

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