After three men events won by the British divers, Martin Wolfram (GER) prevented today the team of Great Britain to take the gold in the fourth male competition of the FINA Diving World Cup, concluded this Thursday in Tokyo. In the final of the 3m springboard, everything seemed to go well for Daniel Goodfellow, the first of the semis and leader until the third round. In the fourth dive, he over-rotated in his forward 2 ½ somersaults with 3 twists (pike) and got only 50.70 points from the judges. At this stage, the German ace was only third, but with 69.70 in the fourth round, he managed to climb to the first position, which he kept until the end.
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Watch the very tight battle for the Gold between 🇬🇧 James Heatly and 🇩🇪Martin Wolfram in the two last rounds of the final program.
— FINA (@fina1908) May 6, 2021
Heatly lost the Gold Medal for only 6.50 pts.#DWC2021 #diving pic.twitter.com/7nGEf7PVTb
Goodfellow (gold medallist in the 3m synchro with Jack Laugher) would again badly perform his last combination (a back 3 ½ somersaults), thus losing any hope to get a medal. In the end, Wolfram earned the first gold for Germany in the World Cup, concluding his six-dive final in 467.75 – his third and fifth round were particularly successful, getting respectively 89.25 and 89.30 points from the judges.
Also very consistent throughout the final was the second British representative, James Heatly. His fourth and fifth round were quite good and he managed to get the silver in 461.25. Curiously, and together with his teammate Goodfellow, they had the best 109C (forward 4 ½ somersaults) of the session, scoring 91.20.
The bronze medal went to France’s Alexis Jandard, in 434.25. The French star took the best possible advantage of the changes in the leading positions, and slowly approached the podium area – fifth after round four, fourth after round five and then third thanks to a consistent forward 2 ½ somersaults 2 twists, his final dive (the one badly missed by Goodfellow, thus falling from the third to the fifth position).
Nicolas Garcia Boissier, from Spain, got a very honorable fourth position, advancing Goodfellow and Jonathan Ruvalcaba, from Dominican Republic, who closed the top-6 of the competition.
QUOTES
Gold medal, Martin Wolfram (GER)
"I can't find any words for this after all I've been through, mainly injuries. And now I got the gold medal. It's amazing. My last injury was a shoulder dislocation in January 2020. So it's not long ago. With the postponement of the Olympic Games I had another chance to get ready for it. I worked hard and I'm so happy that it worked. This venue is beautiful, it's a great facility. There are nice boards and nice platform, I love to dive here and I'm looking forward to coming back. I had a great feeling here, everything was safe in my opinion. I think that was a good test for the Olympics".
Silver medal, James Heatly (GBR)
"It's amazing and I'm really happy. I never thought I'd get a silver or any medal at all. To be on the podium is incredible and I think there's more to give. So, I'm looking forward to the future. My favourite dive: the 109C. I like spinning forward. On the venue, the boards are amazing and inside is really bright. I'm just looking forward to this summer and hopefully I'll be here. Moreover, I've been feeling very safe. I've not felt uncomfortable at all”.
Bronze medal, Alexis Jandard (FRA)
"I didn't expect this result, I was really surprised! At the beginning I just wanted to get my spot for Olympics. In the final, I just wanted to have fun and do the maximum I could, trying to enjoy the moment. After this strange COVID-19 period, this is the first event, after many, many months, more than a year. For the Olympics, my goal is to be in the final. This is a very good pool and it was a very big opportunity to come here and watch this structure. The Japanese people are just wonderful".