MONTREAL

ICYMI: Quebec women capture diving World Series silver in two events

The Canadian Press Published Saturday, April 27, 2019 10:39AM EDT

Canada's Meaghan Benfeito, left, and Caeli McKay compete during the women's 10-metre open synchro finals event at the FINA Diving Grand Prix in Calgary, Alta., Saturday, April 6, 2019. After a bumpy start in 2017, Canadian divers Meaghan Benfeito and Caeli McKay seem to have finally made their mark in the 10-metre tower synchronized event. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Text:

Canadians Jennifer Abel and Melissa Citrini-Beaulieu left Friday's Diving World Series event with a little extra confidence.

Montreal's Abel and Citrini-Beaulieu of St-Constant rose from sixth place after their second dive to finish with silver in the women's three-metre synchronized event.

Their silver medal performance came after Montreal's Meaghan Benfeito and Calgary's Caeli McKay took second in the women's 10-metre synchronized event earlier in the day.

"I think we gave a really great show, showing people that we are able make a mistake and still finish second," Abel said. "The girls that are competing here are the girls that are going to be there in Tokyo (at the 2020 Olympics) and it's the girls that we want to fight against at the worlds. So it shows us that we belong on the podium and we deserve to be there."

The Canadian tandem climbed to within less than one point of Australia's Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith before their final dive, then scored 72.90 on an inward 2 1/2 somersault on their fifth dive to finish ahead of the Australians with 306.27 points.

"We didn't know that we were that close to the Australian team but we knew that it's not over until the last dive," Abel said. "So we gave it our all and did a really good dive."

"We had a little problem with our second dive but I think we came back strong and we showed the strength of our team after that," Citrini-Beauliue said.

They finished in sixth in Beijing on March 7 after winning silver in the series opener in Sagamihara, Japan.

"It's a little bit stressful but I like it," Citrini-Beaulieu said about competing at home. "My family and my friends are here to support me and I'm really grateful for it. I wanted to give a good show so I think we did it."

China's Tingmao Shi and Wang Han won gold for their third straight title in the series this season. Keeney and Smith won bronze for Australia.

Earlier, Benfeito and McKay scored 80.19 on their fourth dive, a back 3 1/2 somersault, for second. They finished just over a point behind North Korea's Jo Jin Mi and Kim Mi Rae in the opening event of the competition.

"I'm happy. Back three-and-a-half was a risk, but it paid off," McKay said. "Meaghan and I are really a team now."

Lu Wei and Jiaqi Zhang of China were third.

Benfeito and McKay won bronze medals in the event at the previous two World Series stops.

"I'm extremely happy with how things went today," Benfeito said. "It was our time to show what we were able to do in our home pool."

In the men's 10-metre synchronized platform, Montreal's Vincent Riendeau and Nathan Zsombor-Murray of Pointe-Claire, Que., finished fourth.

Yang Hao and Junjie Lian of China won the event.

China's Cao Yuan and Xie Siyi won gold in the men's three-metre synchronized event. Francois Imbau-Dulac of Terrebonne, Que., and Montreal's Philippe Gagne were fifth.

The World Series stop, the third of five this season, runs through Sunday.