No pain, no gain for diver Filion
In truth, Roseline Filion had no business competing at the FINA World Cup, which doubled as an Olympic diving test event, over the weekend in Rio, But somehow, just two months after fracturing her ankle, the 28- year- old from Laval, Que. repeatedly launched herself off a 10- metre platform in the name of locking down a second quota berth for Canada at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Still battling pain and reduced mobility in her right foot, Filion needed to finish top-18 in the preliminaries to assure Canada of that second spot. Talk about clutch. In spite of dropping her degree of difficulty on one of her dives, Filion scored 291.85 points, good for 18th place.
“She’s made believers out of a lot of people,” said Dive Canada technical director Mitch Gellar. “Anyone who thought they could predict an outcome, they’ve learned they’re not so smart.”
Against the odds, Canada booked a second individual 10- metre Olympic spot thanks to Filion and Celina Toth, of St. Thomas, Ont., who finished 16th in the preliminaries.
“Rosie is really strong mentally, so I think that helps her out,” said Meaghan Benfeito who voluntarily stepped aside for Toth and Filion this weekend as she had already clinched a 10- metre Olympic berth for Canada and was not eligible to qualify for another spot.
This season will go down in the books as challenging beyond belief for the Canadian luge team.
The World Cup podium proved elusive — outside a bronze for Alex Gough back in November — until Canada won three straight med- als with bronze at the world championships, World Cup silver in Altenberg, Germany and finally World Cup gold Sunday in the final race of the season in Winterberg, Germany.
The relay is a one- run bomb race consisting of one women’s, one men’s and one doubles sled. Athletes hit a pad hanging over the track after crossing the finish line, which opens the start gate for the next team member.
Arianne Jones, Mitch Malyk and the doubles sled of Justin Snith and Tristan Walker, all of Calgary, clocked two minutes, 26.595 seconds for the victory.
Notes : Canada beat New Zealand for the first time Sunday at the Sao Paulo sevens women’s rugby event. Jen Kish, Ghislaine Landry and Kayla Moleschi registered tries in a 19-10 semifinal victory. Canada later lost in the final 29- 0 to Australia … Canada dominated the first four- woman exhibition race Sunday at the world bobsled championships in Igls, Austria. Calgarian Kaillie Humphries and her team of Cynthia Appiah ( Toronto), Kasha Lee ( Ottawa) and Melissa Lotholz (Barrhead, Alta.) joined forces to clock a winning time of one minute, 47.35 seconds. Canada’s Alysia Rissling ( Calgary), Janine McCue ( Cochrane, Alta.), Julia Corrente ( Chatham, Ont.) and Christine Debruin ( Calgary) teamed up to win the silver medal at 1: 48.11 ….Chris Spring, of Calgary, and his crew finish 12th in the four- man event at the world championships. Justin Kripps, of Summerland, BC., finished in 16th place … On Saturday, Jennifer Abel and Pamela Ware, of Montreal, won bronze in the threemetre synchronized dive at the Olympic test event in Rio.
(ROSELINE FILION HAS) MADE BELIEVERS OUT OF A LOT OF PEOPLE.