FINA Diving World Cup 2008
The Chinese athletes dominated the 2008 FINA Diving World Cup that took place in Beijing (CHN) from February 19-25 by conquering seven out of the eight titles at stake. The only non-local victory went to the German Sascha Klein in the men’s 10m platform, taking advantage of two poor dives from the favourite in this event, the Chinese Luxin Zhou.
In the medals’ zone, divers from Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Mexico, Russia and USA also shone in Beijing.
This World Cup also functioned as both test and qualifier event of the discipline for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing next August. After the first phase of qualification at the 12th FINA World Championships Melbourne 2007, all the 34 spots in individual events and eight places in synchro events are now allocated.
Medallists of the FINA Diving World Cup 2008:
MEN
3m springboard: 1. Chong He (CHN) 530.30; 2. Kai Qin (CHN) 515.30; 3. Yahel Castillo (MEX) 515.00
10m platform: 1. Sascha Klein (GER) 566.85; 2. Luxin Zhou (CHN) 543.40; 3. David Boudia (USA) 526.65
3m springboard synchro: 1. Feng Wang/Kai Qin (CHN) 462.12; 2. Yuri Kunakov/Dmitry Sautin (RUS) 418.65; 3. Alexandre Despatie/Arturo Miranda (CAN) 416.94
10m platform synchro: 1. Yue Lin/Liang Huo (CHN) 482.46; 2. Patrick Hausding/Sascha Klein (GER) 466.74; 3. Blake Aldridge/Thomas Daley (GBR) 446.07
WOMEN
3m springboard: 1. Minxia Wu (CHN) 391.35; 2. Jingjing Guo (CHN) 387.75; 3. Sharleen Stratton (AUS) 350.70
10m platform: 1. Ruolin Chen (CHN) 449.35; 2. Xin Wang (CHN) 405.00; 3. Paola Espinosa (MEX) 396.35
3m springboard synchro: 1. Minxia Wu/Jingjing Guo (CHN) 362.10; 2. Yulia Pakhalina/Anastasia Pozdnyakova (RUS) 329.61; 3. Ariel Rittenhouse/Kelci Bryant (USA) 322.50
10m platform synchro: 1. Xin Wang/Ruolin Chen (CHN) 375.66; 2. Emilie Heymans/Marie-Eve Marleau (CAN) 340.05; 3. Melissa Wu/Briony Cole (AUS) 334.80