September 1 , 2010

Michelle Piper-Kulak

SINGAPORE –Michelle Piper-Kulak of Edmonton placed 12th in the women's one-metre final for the 14-15 age group on Wednesday to open the 30-country world junior diving championships.

Kassidy Cook of the U.S., won the gold medal totalling 376.85 points. Luo Ying of China took the silver at 362 .95 and her compatriot Sun Mengchen was third at 348.05.

Piper-Kulak, competing at her first world juniors, qualified for the final placing eighth in the morning preliminaries in which each competitor executes four compulsory dives and four optional dives.

In the final, the divers each did three optionals. Piper-Kular produced sub par scores on her first two dives in the final but finished with a strong inward dive.

"I'm proud of my performance," said Piper-Kulak, 14, who started diving at age nine. "I felt a lot more pressure in the final. We didn't have as much time between the dives as we did in the final. It was a good experience and I hope it can help me on three-metre."

Taylor Olanski of London, Ont., was 16th in the prelims but only nine points from a berth in the final.

The other final on Wednesday was the men's three-metre in the 16-18 age group. Kevin Chavez Banda of Mexico took the gold, Jincong Li of China was second and Kristian Ipsen of the U.S., third.

Shane Miszkiel of Victoria, competing at his third world juniors, was the top Canadian in 14th, missing a berth in the final by 15 points. Nicholas Beaupré of Longueuil, Que., was 20th.

Competition continues Thursday

About the FINA World Junior Championships
The world will be introduced to some of the next generation of diving greats at the 18th edition of the FINA World Junior Diving Championships, taking place from September 1-6, 2010, in Tucson, Ari. (USA).

Some 180 divers, with a slightly higher number of female competitors, coming from 29 countries, will either make their debut or re-affirm their place among the world's best on the boards of the Hillenbrand Aquatic Center – Kasser Family Pool, University of Arizona.

Boys and girls compete in both "A" (born 1990/1991/1992) and "B" (born 1993/1994) age groups. This competition, organised in even years, comprises 14 events: 1m, 3m springboard and 10m platform for A and B as well as a 3m springboard synchro event mixing A and B.

In the last edition in Aachen (GER), China blitzed to win all but one title (earned by Russia) on offer. Competition will most certainly be tough, as Australia, Germany, Great Britain, Ukraine, USA and Russia also have strong contenders to claim a podium spot.

Since the 2008 edition, a sixth day was added to the competition, following the ever-growing number of divers participating in the event.

About Diving Plongeon Canada
Diving Plongeon Canada (DPC) was established in 1967 as a not-for-profit organization to promote the growth and awareness of the sport in this country. As a member of FINA, the world's governing body of aquatic sports, DPC contributes to the development of globally accepted standards of excellence in diving and supports the rules and regulations of international competition. Representing nine provincial diving associations, 67 local diving clubs and close to 4,000 high performance athletes, DPC shares a national commitment to advance the art and sport of diving and to position Canada as the number one diving nation of the world. For information, visit www.diving.ca.

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