DWS 2016, Day 3, Kazan: China dominates third day of the competition

With a long tradition of victory in diving, China didn’t disappoint, getting three golds out of three finals on Day 3 of the fourth leg of the FINA/NVC Diving World Series in Kazan (RUS).

In the women’s 3m springboard, He Zi won the gold medal, scoring 388.20, 26 points in front of the silver medalist Tania Cagnotto (ITA). Maddison Keeney (AUS) placed third with a total score of 352.15 and was happy to climb on the podium after finishing fourth in Dubai and Windsor, two previous legs of the 2016 series.

Chinese Shi Tingmao, who alternated the first place with He Zi at the beginning, missed her fourth attempt and the podium as well. But Shi Tingmao won the overall rank with two victories in Beijing and Dubai, silver in Windsor and fourth place in Kazan.

Asked about her performance, He Zi explained: “I’m pleased with my performance in Kazan. I like the venue. It’s very good. I’ve got two gold medals as I planned - in synchro and individual event”.

On Shi Tingmao, going down from second to fourth place after an error dive, Keeney said: “I can just say that the Chinese are amazing. They are great sportspeople, but great people as well. Even though I knew I probably wouldn’t get the medal at this competition, I tried to dive my best. I didn’t give up and I got a good result. I’m satisfied with some dives, and some of them I didn’t do as well as I could, like my fourth dive”.

Italian Tania Cagnotto obtained her second silver of the meet after the second place in synchro event with Francesca Dallape two days ago.

On her participation in the European championships in May, the 17-time European champion said: “We have the European Championships in London and Gran Prix in Italy. That’s it before Rio. Notwithstanding my titles I still have motivation to compete at the Europeans. Every competition is something new for me, it’s a new goal to achieve. Besides, I still don’t have an Olympic medal. So this a real challenge for me”.

In the men’s 10m platform, concluding in 572,40 points Chen Aisen (CHN) was well ahead of Tom Daley (GBR) and Qui Bo (CHN) who scored 554.60 and 554.00 respectively. So the real duel of the final was for the silver medal.

“There are still things I have to improve, but I’m very happy with the silver medal" admitted Daley.

“It was fun to battle against Chinese divers to see who actually can come up on top. This is the last chance to compete against them before Rio. That’s exciting and nice to know that going into Olympic Games I can be very close to the Chinese”.

On the upcoming European Championships, Daley commented: “It will be a very special competition. I live in London, train in London. It will be great to have all friends and family being there and watching my performance. But it’s going to be tough. There are many strong European countries, especially in men’s diving – Ukraine, Russia and Germany in particular. Russian Victor Minibaev, who missed the individual final in Kazan, will be my toughest rival at 10m event in London”.

In the last event of the competition, mixed 3m synchro Wang Han/Yang Hao took the gold medal, earning 330.30. Dolores Hernandez and Jahir Ocampo of Mexico but competing under the FINA flag, placed second with 327.06 points and

Canadians Jennifer Abel and Francois Imbeau-Dulac won bronze with 321.36.

China swept nine out of ten gold medals during the three day competition in Kazan, which featured 75 divers from 12 countries.

One gold went to Russia.

In the overall ranking throughout the Diving World Series (stages in Beijing, Dubai, Windsor and Kazan) Chinese missed the leading position only in the men’s 3m synchro springboard, leaving the first place to team Ukraine. But this happened only because Chinese pair didn’t take part in the event at the closing leg in Kazan.