Canadian dive team heads to Calgary on a high note

Canadian divers will come to Calgary later this week in top form.

Make that gold-medal form. That’s after two high-profile Canucks captured the final gold medal of the FINA Diving World Series season Sunday in Kazan, Russia. Jennifer Abel, 26, and François Imbeau-Dulac, 27, won the mixed 3m synchro springboard at the fourth and final Diving World Series event.

The performance comes ahead of the Canada Cup FINA Diving Grand Prix, which runs Thursday through Sunday at Calgary’s Repsol Sport Centre, where Canada’s top international divers take on the world.

It is the second-straight week the pair of Abel and ImbeauDulac captured Diving World Series gold, adding to the same accomplishment at last week’s event in Montreal.

“We didn’t change anything in our routine,” said ImbeauDulac, from Saint-Lazare, Que.

“We still talked during the entire event. We just stayed the Jennifer and François team just like we normally do, even though we were the last divers.”

The Canadians scored 324.96 points, and had to follow eventual silver medallists, Grace Reid and Tom Daley, of Great Britain, each time.

The Brits managed 317.70 points and finishes only 0.06 points behind Abel and ImbeauDulac heading into the fifth and final dive.

“We are incredibly happy with how we managed to dive right after the British — we knew that they were diving incredibly well,” said Imbeau-Dulac. “It was all about the last dive, and we stayed incredibly composed, and we just went for the dive that we normally do in practice, and it worked.”

Tina Punzel and Lou Massenberg, of Germany, finished with 306.00 points and the bronze medal.

“I am really happy to finish with a gold, especially beside François,” said Abel, from Laval, Que., “All the teams were doing great dives for over 70 points, so we had no space to miss, but when I do synchro with him we can count on each other.”

Earlier in the night Abel picked up a bronze medal in the women’s 3m springboard, with 338.55 points.

It is her third bronze of the Diving World Series season.

“I am really happy with my individual performance. I was able to do what Arturo (Miranda, coach) was asking me to do,” said Abel.

“I, unfortunately, missed my second dive, but my other dives were good enough for the bronze.”

As it has been all season, Olympic champion Tingmao Shi, of China, won the event, scoring 374.35 points, followed by her teammate Han Wang, who collected 355.05 points and the silver medal on Sunday.

Montreal’s Pamela Ware, a 2016 Olympian, finished in fifth place in the final with 321.65 points.

Vincent Riendeau, of PointeClaire, Que., was the other Canadian in action. He finished fifth in the men’s 10m platform final (448.50 points).