Montréal, December 2, 2022 – Roughly one year ago, Alexa Fung faced a serious upset when she broke her foot at the Centre sportif du Parc Olympique de Montréal. Friday, the Toronto native made a new and far better memory at the very spot, after a gold medal win in the Women’s 1-metre Category B at the FINA World Junior Diving Championships.
The Canadian accumulated 333.20 points in the final in her quest to reach the very top of the podium. The athlete was especially happy with her final dive which consolidated her victory and definitively put her ahead of American Molly Gray (323.90) and Italian Giorgia De Sanctis (317.25). Fellow Canadian Presley Deck (Saskatoon) also took part in the final, and earned fourth in the standings with 311.80 points.
“It feels totally unreal! I was expecting to be able to do a good job, but I definitely didn’t expect this! […] It feels good to be back, and I’m proud of how far I’ve come since my injury,” said Alexa Fung.
After injuring herself at the very same pool last year, Fung was nervous heading into the competition, even though she genuinely enjoys diving in Montréal.
“There’s a springboard I’ll never step on again here,” she shared. “(Before the final), I was really stressed, I was looking at the preliminary results and I saw that it was really a close call – every diver was very close to each other.”
Nevertheless, she was able to put distractions aside in the grand final, and instead focused on her diving en route to an eventual podium.
On Tuesday, Alexa’s sister Katelyn Fung (Forest City) earned the silver medal in the Women’s 3-meter Category A – and from then on it was sister inspiring sister.
“I was really proud to see her (Katelyn) on the podium, and thought it would be really exciting for us to both win a medal! I’m so glad she’s here with me and I could hear her screaming today!” laughed Alexa.
Arnaud Corbeil (CAMO) scored 383.75 points to place seventh in the platform final Category B, while Samuel Talbot, also from CAMO, placed 12th with 360.80 points.
A fun first in synchro
The day concluded with the Men’s 3-metre Synchro final, where Canadians Noah Bernard and Emmitt Reesor took ninth place. Consistent from start to finish, the duo from Toronto posted a total of 265.92 points in what was their first-ever experience together in synchro.
“I feel great! It was my first time in synchro, and to be able to do it at the World Juniors was amazing. I had a lot of fun,” commented Emmitt Reesor.
Both teammates had very little time to train for the event, so the mere fact that they were able to compete with the world’s best divers was already a huge accomplishment, and proof of great things to come.
“We only started preparing a few weeks ago, and we’re both super happy to have been able to compete,” added Reesor, who even went on to emphasize his preference for synchro over individual programs. “It’s way more fun! We work together a lot, matching things even right down to our heart rate almost! I really like individual, but synchro is something else entirely.”
Canada now has six medals to its credit since the beginning of the World Junior Championships – including three gold. Thrilling diving events will resume Saturday, with the Women’s preliminary and finals in the platform event.
More information :
Maelle Dancause
Manager, Communications
Diving Canada
C: 514-475-4540
maelle@diving.ca