Abel emerged to the interview area with a giant smile on her face.

"I’m extremely pleased," said Abel, third in London on 3m synchro with Emilie Heymans who was a medal presenter here on Saturday.

"I was solid from prelims, through the semis to the final. I was subpar on my first two dives today but I came back with solid dives."

The highlight for Abel was her reverse in the last round in the final. It was one she struggled with last season and now she puts it as her finale.

"It’s still hit and miss but today I hit it," she said. "I never thought that one day it would be the last dive on my list. I’ve changed a lot of things this year including the order of my dives. But I felt comfortable here, especially being at home. That’s a reflection of gaining confidence and having experience.”

On women’s 10m synchro, Qian Ren and Siyu Ji of China were the victors with 332.52 points. Benfeito and Filion followed with a season-best 323.67 and are four-for-four in podium appearances this season in international competition.

Giovana Almeida and Ingrid Olivetta of Brazil were third at 275.66 and Carol-Ann Ware of Beloeil, Que., and Eloise Belanger of Montreal fourth at 264.24.

"Our buildup this season has been on track and we had our best performance of the year today," said Filion. "Our synchronisation was really improved especially on our first two dives. The work we are putting into it is slowly starting to show on the scoreboard."

There may be no Olympics or World championships in 2014 but is still an important season for the Canadian divers. The FINA World Cup is the world ranking event and there is also the high profile Commonwealth Games which are back-to-back in July.

"We’re in the second year of the Olympic cycle and we’re trying to make the new techniques we learned last year come more naturally this season," said Filion.

"So the World Cup is going to show where we stand against the best in the world."

"We’d love to win a medal at all our events this year. It’s something we’ve never done before in one season."

On men’s 10m platform, the two Chinese delivered a spectacular performance for gold and silver. Liang Huo scored one perfect mark en route to the gold with 534.35 points. 
Yanquan Zhang earned five perfect 10’s, but missed a dive as well and settled for silver at 491.95. Steele Johnson of the U.S., was third at 474.70. Maxim Bouchard of St. Constant, Que., was fifth at 414.85.

In men’s 3m synchro, Philippe Gagne of Montreal and François Imbeau-Dulac of St-Lazare, Que., were fourth and Marc Sabourin-Germain of Montreal and Bouchard were sixth.

 

(From a press release by Diving/Plongeon Canada)