Canadian divers win synchronized silver
GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA After a rocky start to the Commonwealth Games diving competition Wednesday, Canada stepped up to the medal podium.
Flagbearer Meaghan Benfeito and teenage partner Caeli McKay steadied the ship with a silver medal in the women’s 10-metre synchronized event after a botched dive dropped Jennifer Abel and Melissa Citrini-Beaulieu out of medal contention in the threemetre synchro final.
Abel and Citrini-Beaulieu had won silver in the same event at the 2017 FINA World Championships last summer in Budapest. And they led after three dives Wednesday.
But it fell apart on the fourth when Abel lost position on a forward 3½ somersault dive from the pike position, the duo’s most difficult dive of the day. The 26-yearold from Laval, Que., all but jackknifed into the pool with her hands just beating her feet to the water.
“A big technical mistake,” said Abel, who won the event in 2010 and took silver in 2014, albeit with a different partner
Benfeito, a 29-year-old from Montreal, and McKay, an 18-yearold from Calgary, had no such missteps. They moved from fourth to second as the evening wore on with a polished, steady performance.
“We came into the event and we really wanted to have fun ... When we have fun, that’s when we dive well,” said Benfeito.
McKay, in her first multi-sport games, admitted to some nerves, although they didn’t show.
“I think we help each other kind of loosen up and relax and understand we know what we’re doing,” said McKay. “And we’re in it all together.”
Asked about her young partner, a smiling Benfeito said: “She did better than me today.”
Jun Hoong Cheong and Pandelela Rinong Pamg won the gold with 328.08 points with fellow Malaysians Mun Yee Leong and Nur Dhabitah Sabri taking bronze with 308.16. The Canadians finished at 312.12.
Canadian boxer Marie-Jeanne Parent lost her semifinal Wednesday, but will leave the Commonwealth Games with a bronze medal.
Canada will earn five more medals in the boxing ring, with only the colour of them to be decided.
Parent, 22, of Quebec City, lost a 4-1 decision to England’s Sandy Ryan in the 69-kilogram division.
Also Wednesday, Caroline Veyre of Montreal was stopped by Nigeria’s Yetunde Odunga in the 60-kilogram quarter-final.
Montreal’s Harley-David O’Reilly won by walkover in the men’s 81-kilogram quarter-final. He will be joined in the semifinals by Sabrina Aubin of St-Jean, Que., (57 kilograms), Montreal’s Tammara Thibeault (75 kilograms), Eric Basran of Vancouver (56 kilograms) and Thomas Blumenfeld of Montreal (64 kilograms).
Canadian Django Lovett won a bronze in the Commonwealth Games high jump Wednesday.
The 25-year-old from Surrey, B.C., recorded a personal best of 2.30 metres (up from 2.27).