Mishap doesn’t injure hopes
DIVING Australia is confident its women’s synchronised springboard pairs remain on track for the Commonwealth Games despite suffering a scare at yesterday’s FINA grand prix on the Gold Coast.
Rio medallists Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith narrowly missed the medals despite registering a “no dive” when Smith’s leg gave way on her in the final round.
Smith bounced off the board, suffering a grazed back, before tumbling into the water, while Keeney stayed on the board. Australia’s other pair of Esther Qin and Georgia Sheehan also registered a no dive after a mix-up in their penultimate round.
Both teams had been chasing gold deep into the final.
Australian coach Ady Hinchliffe said the accident was “desperately disappointing” for Keeney and Smith, in particular, given the incident occurred as they were trialling a new dive which had been fantastic in warm-up.
“Unfortunately it’s an accident, it’s where the leg just basically gives in,” said Hinchlifffe, who joined Diving Australia from Britain earlier this year.
“It’s desperately disappointing because we were trying a new dive and we were excited, the warm-up was fantastic.
“At the moment (Smith’s) pride is hurt but the main thing is she’s OK, she didn’t hurt herself.
“Anabelle is experienced enough to be able to bounce back off this.
“We’ve just got to check her leg’s actually OK because it collapsed. The back isn’t nice, don’t get me wrong, but we just need to check her leg’s OK.”
Hinchliffe said Qin and Sheehan had been slightly “rattled” by the conditions, with yesterday’s competitors facing possibly the strongest winds of the four-day meet.
“Because we’re outside, we’ve got difficult conditions and we’re likely to see a bit of that unfortunately,” he said.
“Diving outside is almost a different sport and we’re trying to get the athletes to embrace that, that’s why we’re here.”
US pair Krysta Palmer and Maria Coburn won the event, ahead of Germany’s Tina Punzel and Lena Hentschel, with Japan’s Sayaka Mikami and Hazuki Miyamoto third, just 11.55 points ahead of Keeney and Smith.
Australia’s Matthew Barnard and Ross Todd also missed medals in the 10m synchro, an event won by Russia’s Nikita Shleikher and Aleksandr Belevtsev ahead of Great Britain and Malaysia teams.