May 8th, 2010

Carol Ann Ware

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida – Carol-Ann Ware of Montreal earned fourth place finishes in the synchronized 10-metre with her sister Pamela Ware and on the individual tower as well on Saturday at the U.S., Grand Prix diving competition.

In the synchro tower, event the Ware sisters missed a berth on the podium by only three and half points. Wu Shengpin and Jiaming Zhu of China took the gold at 350.88, Haley Ishimatsu and Mary-Beth Dunnichay of the U.S., were second at 311.64 and Sarah Barrow and Tonia Cough of Britain were third at 293.04.

The Ware sisters totalled 293.55 just missing winning their second career Grand Prix medal.

“They did quite well,” said Aaron Dziver, who coaches the Ware sisters at Club CAMO. “Their two best dives were their most difficult ones. However, they experienced individual and synchronization problems on their easier dive which potentially cost them at least a bronze.”

On the individual 10-metre, Sinuo Ma led China to a 1-2 finish at 380.25 with Jiao Liu second at 347.40 and Couch third at 334.25. Carol-Ann Ware followed at 322.50, her best score this year. Rachel Kemp of Victoria, who had also qualified for the final injured her upper arm in warm-up and did not compete.

“It was a very satisfying performance for Carol-Ann,” said Dziver. “This is one of the harder Grand Prix and she was able to hold her own. She’s showing that she can compete with these women but she needs to show she can be a little bit more consistent when it counts.”

China collected its third gold of the day on men’s three-metre springboard with Shixin Li finishing first at 527.80 after a strong challenge from American Troy Dumais in second at 506.65. Francois Imbeau-Dulac of St-Lazare, Que., was sixth with a personal best 426.00.

“Francois was very confident and that showed in the execution of his dives,” said Dziver. “His list is slightly less difficult than the others and we’ve been playing around with doing more difficult dives but they’re not quite as consistent yet. He did a standout job.”

Competition ends Sunday with the Ware sisters competing in the women’s three-metre synchro final.

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