Montréal, August 5, 2023 – Caeli McKay fought hard Saturday for a place on the 10m platform podium at the Diving World Cup Super Final in Berlin, Germany. Bittersweetly, the Canadian came up just short, finishing in fourth place, a mere 6.8 points short of a podium place.
McKay scored 66.00 points on her first dive, putting her in sixth place provisionally. She managed to climb to provisional fourth place with two dives still to go.
Things got tougher for McKay on her fourth effort, where she scored just 49.50 points. However, she rallied back in style on her final run on the platform, scoring 73.60 points, her best score of the day. McKay rounded off her fourth-place finish with a total of 324.10 points.
China’s Yuxi Chen (420.30 points) and Hongchan Quan (408.10 points) dominated the competition, taking gold and silver respectively. The podium was completed by Great Britain’s Andrea Spendolini Sirieix with 330.90 points.
In qualifying dives earlier in the day, McKay placed fifth to secure her berth in the final round.
In men’s diving action, Bryden Hattie was in action on the 3m springboard, where he was able to take 11th place in the final with a total score of 360.15 points.
After a sub-par performance at World Championships a few weeks ago, Hattie admitted that he wasn’t feeling particularly confident at the start of morning qualifying rounds. However, he turned it around, and was able to secure his passage to the finals with his 370.65 points.
Once in the finals, the British Columbian delivered two excellent dives before having some difficulties with his other passages on the springboard.
“I wasn’t very confident at the start of the competition – I didn’t even think I’d be able to qualify for the final – but I’m very happy to have done it. I started off well in the final, but by my third dive I was having a bit more difficulty,” commented Hattie.
The gold medal went to China’s Zongyuan Wang (540.60 points); Germany’s Moritz Wesemann (464.15 points) came in for silver, and American Andrew Capobianco (425.50 points), took third place on the podium.
Hattie is slated to be back in action on Sunday at the World Cup Super Finals, when he will compete in the mixed team event alongside Caeli McKay, Pamela Ware, and Nathan Zsombor-Murray.
Some divers will compete in individual events Sunday, including: Ware (3m) and Zsombor-Murray (10m), as well as Mia Vallée (3m).
More information :
Alexandra Piché
Manager, Communications
Diving Canada
C: 514 625-5513
alexandra@diving.ca