World champion He Chao was eliminated in the preliminary round of the 3m springboard event and defending Olympic champion Ilya Zakharov narrowly escaped the same fate on a day when gusty winds made life difficult for the divers at the Maria Lenk outdoor pool. He Chao, whose brother He Chong was Olympic champion on the 3m board in 2008, lost his way after leading in the first round of the six-dive series. He stopped his preparation on the end of board and went back to start his dive again in each of the next two rounds, incurring points penalties. He seemed to be back on track with a big-scoring dive in the fourth round but his troubles were not over and he botched his final dive to drop to 21st, 9.55 points off the tally which just saw Zakharov through to Tuesday’s semi-final. Nothing went right for Zakharov in the first three rounds and he was back last of the 29 divers at the halfway stage. But two big-scoring high-tariff dives in the last two rounds rescued the 25-year-old Russian and he squeaked into the semi-final as the last of the 18 qualifiers, having scraped 389.90 points – well over 100 fewer than top qualifier Cao Yuan. Zakharov, world championship silver medallist in 2011 and 2015, made it by just 1.75 points, at the expense of Briton Freddie Woodward.


Rommel Pacheco (MEX) - Photo by Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia

While He Chao struggled, Rio 3m synchro bronze medallist Cao flew the flag for China, who have won four of the five Olympic titles so far contested. Cao, Olympic champion in the 10m synchro at the 2012 London Games but now a springboard specialist, led the way with 498.70 points from his six dives. Cao’s 3m synchro partner Qin Kai was watching in the crowd with his fiancée He Zi after his public marriage proposal on the pool deck the day before. Mexico’s Rommel Pacheco was second on 488.25, Kristian Ipsen of the USA third on 461.35 and European champion Evgeny Kuznetsov of Russia fourth on 449.90. Jack Laugher, Great Britain’s newly crowned 3m synchro gold medallist and world championship bronze medallist in 2015, had a mixed afternoon and was seventh.

The wind caused problems, gusting up after a sunny start. Ken Terauchi, Japan’s 2001 world championship bronze medallist and at 36 the oldest man in the competition, was one who suffered. He waited on the edge of the board for an age before launching his dive in the second round. It went wrong and he asked for a retake but to no avail. If conditions were not ideal, at least the water in the pool, green for nearly a week because of a chemical imbalance, was looking clearer. The scores revert to zero in Tuesday’s semi-final, which is a relief for Zakharov, lucky still to be hanging on to his Olympic title.