Yang Jin spoke humbly about his performance: "Today was very nice. I was
very satisfied with the final round. My teammate and I were very close
in this competition. In the final round I tried a dive with a high
degree of difficulty and it went very well. It was something that I have
practiced a lot, I tried my best."
China's Lin Yue earned the silver medal on the strength of three of his dives which scored the highest marks in each round. This was his first appearance in individual platform since 2013, when he won all three events he participated in. Since 2013, Lin has mostly been active in synchro events, both in platform and in springboard. He leaves Windsor with two gold medals and a silver in one meet for Lin Yue having won the synchro platform on Friday and the mixed springboard on Saturday. Lin Yue claims three medals in one meet for the second time, after Beijing 2014, when he won synchro platform and took silver in synchro and individual springboard. The silver medallist said: "Tonight I tried a different dive and I felt good about the result. I have to work hard and try my best just to stay on China's team."
Tom Daley of Great Britain earned a bronze medal, his 20th World Series medal today scoring 511.50 points, 55.75 points behind the gold medallist. This medal is his second in this meet after bronze in mixed springboard yesterday. Daley won this event in front of a home crowd in London earlier this month but he was unable to deliver a back-to-back appearance at the top of the podium. Daley is the ninth man to reach the 20 World Series mark, and the third from Europe after Patrick Hausding (39) and Sascha Klein (27) both from Germany. Daley and Russia's Victor Minibaev, winning in 2014 Dubai, are the only divers in World Series history who beat Chinese opposition.
Daley was analytic about his performance: "What went really well today
was my new dive, a twister, in the second round. But in the semis
nothing was really going well and even in the final it was a constant
fight to get myself going. I'm not really happy that it was only a
bronze medal but I know there is a lot more in the tank. It’s always
tough to compete against the Chinese but they are beatable, and for me
it’s just about keeping the pressure on them. I thought I could have
beaten them, but instead I can easily count all the points I lost just
today with mistakes. I know that I can do it, I just have to do it. It's
all about the motivation really, and it's harder to stay on top than to
get on top," said the British Olympic bronze medallist.
USA's Steele Johnson competing in his first ever World Series meet was aiming for a second trip to the podium, but settled for 4th place. Johnson finished a little more than 8 points behind Daley. On Friday, Johnson and teammate David Boudia claimed a silver medal in synchro platform.
In 5th place was German Sanchez of Mexico. He dove in his fourth final in five appearances in 2015. He owns a silver medal from Kazan, the first ever individual medal claimed outside his home country Mexico.
Finishing in sixth places is 18 year old Vincent Riendeau of Canada who began diving at age 5 years old. Riendeau made his first individual platform final earlier this month in London. He qualified for his second World Series final allowing him to dive in front of his home crowd. Riendeau aims to improve following his sixth place finishes in the Olympic pool in London and in the Windsor venue. Tom Daley heaped praise on the Canadian: "Vince is doing really well. The scores that he is getting and the way he is working in the prelims are going to pay off. Every steps he is taking is going to give him valuable experience."
Photo credit: Diving Plongeon Canada
10m Platform Women
Ren Qian, 14, of China wins the gold medal in her World Series debut today. She becomes the youngest female medallist in World Series history at 14 years and 93 days. She scored 429.35 points and was consistently the highest scorer in each dive during finals. She finished 51.45 points ahead of teammate Si Yajie who was the previous youngest female medallist at 14 years and 138 days. "I have dreamed of being a diver on this team. I practice very, very hard," said Ren Qian.
Analysing the youth of the Chinese divers, Ren Qian is the second World Series medal winner born in this century, and the first in an individual event. The first medal winner born this millennium is Lian Junjie on November 3, 2000. She who won gold alongside Si Yajie in platform mixed in Kazan and London earlier this year. Among men, only Tom Daley of Great Britain claimed gold three days after his 14th birthday. For the first time since 2008, when Mexico's Paola Espinosa won two gold medals, two consecutive victories in this event went to divers from outside China. Canadian's Meaghan Benfeito won in Kazan and Roseline Filion won in London. China has never remained without gold in this event in three consecutive meets.
Last year in Windsor, this event saw another debutante win gold. China's Huang Xiaohui claimed her only ever gold medal in this event during her only appearance by edging team mate Liu Huixia.
China's 16-year-old Si Yajie claims the silver medal in her first individual platform participation since 2013, during the season when she was 14 years old. This is only her second silver medal in 12 World Series contests having stuck gold 10 times before. Her only other defeat came in Guadalajara in 2013, when she took silver in individual platform behind teammate Liu Huixia. "I was satisfied. It was very competitive and I am pleased with this medal," said Si Yajie.
After seven straight individual platform events without a foot on the podium, Malaysia's Pandelela Rinong, 22, earned a bronze medal. It is her eighth medal in this event (S3-P5), and her 19th in total (S10-P9) at World Series. Previously she claimed at least one medal in this event in each of the past four World Series campaigns.
Rinong said: "It's great for me, for the past four meets I was not able
to get a medal so this makes me very happy. I focused only on myself and
my dives. Since London I have been training hard. I tried to learn from
my mistakes and correct them before arriving in Windsor. My first dive
today was really strong. Of course the Chinese divers are very
professional and they train all the time, but many of us have to study
and are unable to train as much."
Australia's Melissa Wu finishes 4th in her 11th individual platform final and in her second in 2015. She finished in 5th place in Dubai. In 2011 she reached the podium once in this event, in Guanajuato to receive a bronze medal.
Canada's Roseline Filion, the bronze medalist in 2014 had to settle for 5th place. She scored the lowest marks across all divers in her first two dives and found herself in a hole she could not get out of. Filion had finished fifth in the first three World Series meets this season. She broke out in London winning her first individual gold medal. She owns three bronze medals in this event, the most recent was last year in Windsor.
In sixth place is Great Britain's Tonia Couch. She has earned the bronze medal in three straight individual platform events, her longest medal streak. She registered her lowest finish ever in this event last year in Windsor with a 10th place, but was able to reach today's finals.
Yulia Prokopchuk of Ukraine landed in 7th place. In 13 previous participation's in individual platform, Prokopchuk reached only two finals although she collected a medal on both occasions, accepting a silver in Moscow in 2012 and a bronze in Moscow in 2014.
Synchro 10m Platform Mixed
This is the 50th event in the FINA NVC Diving World Series and the mixed synchro platform is final event of the Windsor edition featuring only a small three-team field. China has been victorious in the first four mixed platform events and in the first nine mixed events altogether.
The pair of Lian Jie and Tai Xiaohu claim China's 43rd gold medal in the 2015 World Series keep China’s perfect mixed record alive – 10 victories in 10 events. This pair took gold in this event in Beijing and Dubai. In Dubai their total score was 363.12, the outright highest in mixed diving thus far.
Lian Jie said: "We dove better than we did in practice, but I don't
think we did as well as we expected, each of the five dives could have
been better." Partner Tai Xiaohu offered: "I'm not very satisfied for
myself, I'm sure I can do better. My final dive was the best. Our
synchronisation on the final round was very good."
Canada's Meaghan Benfeito and Vincent Riendeau collect their fourth silver medal as synchro partners. They recovered from a fifth place finish in the London edition. Benfeito said: "It was way better than our last competition in London. I think we just had a rough meet in London, so we are very happy with this silver medal. It's a difficult event because it requires me to jump a lot higher because Vince is so much taller. But that helps me in my other events." Riendeau agreed: "This event was pretty good for us. We had strong compulsories. Overall we are pretty happy about performances today. Mentally it’s good to have someone else there diving next to you and we learn from each other. At the end of the year we will be better divers thanks to this event. We have been trying during the World Series to catch the Chinese. They are great divers because they spend a lot of time training."
Photo credit: Diving Plongeon Canada
Alejandra Orozco and German Sanchez were on the podium to receive their bronze medals. Mexico claimed bronze medals in the first two mixed platform meets, with Jahir Ocampo present in both teams. In Beijing, he came through with Paola Espinosa, and in Dubai with Orozco. In Kazan, the duo of Orozco and Ocampo came in fifth place, and in London they finished in sixth. German Sanchez is competing in his first mixed event. Mexico's bronze is their third medal in this event at World Series. This is their fourth medal in this meet in Windsor.