June 25 , 2010

Eric Sehn

SASKATOON – Eric Sehn of Edmonton enjoyed a super day at the Summer Nationals and Commonwealth Games diving competition on Friday with a gold medal on men's one-metre and the best score in the 10-metre tower preliminaries.

In the men's one-metre final, Sehn totalled 385.50 points to successfully defend his summer national crown. Shane Miszkiel of Victoria was second at 361.90 and François Imbeau-Dulac of St-Lazare, Que., third at 359.15.

''My focus this year has been on three-metre and tower but still the one-metre turned out really well,'' said Sehn, 25, second after the morning preliminaries. ''In the final, I got some energy and found a way to do it and finished ahead of some very good divers.''

In the 10-metre prelims, Sehn showed he wants to successfully defend his summer nationals crown in that event as well placing first with a personal best 464.20. Riley McCormick of Victoria is second at 430.60 and Kevin Geyson of Winnipeg third at 375.10.

The highlight for Sehn was a series of 9.0's and 9.5's for his armstand dive despite a painful wrist injury

''I was very surprised with those marks,'' said Sehn. ''Every dive is pretty painful right now and the armstand is definitely the most painful, so you can't really push too hard.''

In the women's three-metre synchro final, three-time Olympic medallist Emilie Heymans of St-Lambert, Que., and Jennifer Abel of Laval, Que., won the gold medal with 313.20 points. They staved off a strong challenge from sister's Carol-Ann Ware and Pamela Ware of Montreal second at 290.52. Hailey Casper of Calgary and Mandy Moran of Thunder Bay, Ont., were third at 261.54.

''We just picked up where we left off from the World Cup,'' said Abel, who won the bronze with Heymans at the FINA World Cup earlier this month. ''We were really pleased with the performance.''

In the women's three-metre preliminaries, Abel, Heymans and Pamela Ware stand 1-2-3. Heymans who has battled hip and ankle injuries this season, said she felt much better on Friday after taking some time off following the World Cup.

The competition is also a selection meet for the Commonwealth Games this October in India. Competition continues through to Sunday.


Full results: http://www.issmembership.com/diving/live/schedule.aspx

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