Croatia beat hosts Hungary to clinch water polo world title
Stylish LoBue captures US high dive gold quest
Croatian team members celebrate their gold medals in the ‘Hajos Alfred’ swimming pool of Budapest on July 29, after the men final of FINA 2017 world
championships against Hungary. (AFP) BUDAPEST, Hungary, July 30, (Agencies): Croatia ended host nation Hungary’s hopes of a fourth world title in men’s water polo with an 8-6 victory in the final on Saturday.
Captain Sandro Sukno scored a hat trick for Croatia, which claimed its second world title and first since 2007, when it also defeated Hungary in the final.
The visitors raced into a 4-0 lead as they kept the Hungarians scoreless for a whole quarter for the first time in the tournament.
Hungary
pulled two
goals back Duque (2013) — finished in fifth and sixth place respectively.
Meanwhile, against the stunning backdrop of the Hungarian Parliament, looming on the opposite side of the Danube, 10 women spent a glorious summer afternoon climbing up a towering metal structure, all for the purpose of hurling themselves into a temporary pool. It all seemed like great fun. They waved to the packed grandstands more than 60 feet below. They shimmied to the music, blaring incessantly from the loudspeakers. One of the divers even donned a bikini instead of the standard one-piece suit the others were wearing.
“We’re kind of like the after-party of diving,” American Tara Tira quipped.
But rest assured — high diving is a terrifying sport, even for those who have made it their life.
“I’m still scared to death,” said American Cesilie Carlton, who finished sixth Saturday at the world championships after diving four times off a 20-meter-high platform on a tower right in the heart of this elegant European capital.
“When you look down, your brain says, ‘Don’t do this.’ You have this selfpreservation that kicks in and says, ‘No, you shouldn’t do this.’ It’s always like that, every time I get up there.”
They are a rare breed, this small group of women and men that have brought an X Games-like sense of danger and bravado to the aquatics championships (the men will decide their winner on Sunday, off an even higher perch 27 meters above the water).
This sport is not for the faint of heart, that’s for sure.
Croatia’s Sandro Sukno scores a goal against Hungary’s goalkeeper Viktor Nagy (over) in ‘Hajos Alfred’ swimming pool of Budapest on July 29, during the men final of FINA 2017 world championships between their teams.
(AFP) Gold medal winning Steve LoBue (center), of the US, silver medal winning Michal Navratil (left), of the Czech Republic and bronze medal winning Alessandro De Rose of Italy celebrate during the medal ceremony of men’s high diving of the Swimming World Championships at River Danube, in
Batthyany square in Budapest, Hungary, on July 30. (AP)
“It’s very intimidating standing up there, 20 meters up, just looking at your feet,” said Australia’s Rhiannan Iffland, who won the women’s gold medal. “It’s not easy and the fear’s always there. For myself, I’m always scared. There’s never a moment where I walk up to that platform and I’m feeling 100 percent confident.”
For obvious safety reasons, high divers hit the water feet-first. Still, when you’re plunging from that height, going somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 mph, pain is inevitable.
“I mean, especially when you first start doing it, it hurts,” said Ginger Huber, another American who competed in the event. “I’m not going to lie. It hurts a lot. Even if you land correctly, it hurts a lot. But it’s strange. Your body can kind of adjust to it.” Well, not to everything. She flashed a smile — revealing several chipped teeth.
“It’s a very risky sport. It’s very dangerous. The impact is very hard,” Huber said. “Sometimes you get punched and you can’t breathe for a while. It knocks the breath out of you. We all have chipped teeth. Some people wear mouth guards because of that. My dentist is like, ‘You just got back from a competition, right? We’ve got another little chip there.’”
Iffland nailed her final dive to claim the gold, beating out Mexico’s Adriana Jimenez. Yana Nestsiarava of Belarus took the bronze, just ahead of Tira. But not one felt like a loser. They all survived to dive another day. “High diving has that extra special camaraderie, that’s for sure,” Tira said. “I wanted to be on the podium, for sure. But I’m so proud of the girls who were on that podium. They dove outstanding. We’re all in this together. We’re a growing sport. We have to keep that camaraderie if we want it to go places.”
They would like it go to the Olympics, but for now the FINA world championships are the pinnacle of the sport. High diving was added to the program four years ago in Barcelona, and it quickly became the most visually appealing sport at the meet.
The setting in Budapest was downright stunning, the divers framed against the imposing Gothic Revival structure that is country’s seat of government.
“The views are awesome,” Tira said. “When you’re 20 meters up, they’re even prettier. You don’t think it can get any better, and then your walk up those stairs and suddenly the whole area is glowing. You have the crowd below who are cheering for us and rooting for us. You look to your right and there’s Parliament. You look out and there’s the Danube River. There’s beautiful architecture all around us. It’s pretty cool.” and first since 1998. “I thought he (Always Dreaming) was on such an easy lead. I didn’t think it would be possible for him to catch him at that time. It looked like the whole field was in trouble at that point.”
At the top of the stretch, all five horses fanned out across the track, with Good Samaritan on the far outside with jockey Joel Rosario, and he quickly raced to the front to give the 64-yearold Mott a victory on his birthday for the 16th time. Good Samaritan covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.69 and paid $19.20, $5.60 and $3.50. Giuseppe the Great returned $8.50 and $3.90, and Always Dreaming paid $2.90 to show.
It was the second straight loss for the Todd Pletcher-trained Always Dreaming, who won his first four starts by a combined 23 1/4 lengths before finishing eighth behind late-charging Cloud Computing in the Preakness. Both horses entered the race well-rested but at the end were no match for Good Samaritan on a warm, picture-perfect day.
“He broke really well, and it went like we were expecting,” Always Dreaming jockey John Velazquez said. “We got the lead and he (jockey Javier Castellano aboard Cloud Computing) was laying second because that’s the type of horses they are. He put in a really good fight down the lane, he just couldn’t get away from the other horses, for whatever reason.”
Good Samaritan, who won twice last year, was winless in three starts in 2017, though he did finish second twice in Grade II starts and was fourth three weeks ago in the Belmont Derby. Mott said Good Samaritan is likely pointed now at the Travers, which was the original plan before Mott and Winstar Farm president Elliott Walden changed their minds and opted for the Jim Dandy.
“Our job is to make stallions, and dirt stallions are worth more than turf stallions,” Walden said.
The field marked the first time since 1991 that the winners of the first two legs of the Triple Crown series met at Saratoga. Derby winner Strike the Gold faced the Preakness winner Hansel in the Travers that year and neither horse won. Only eight Derby winners have returned to Saratoga since.
The Jim Dandy is a major prep race for the $1.25 million Travers Stakes on Aug. 26, which is expected to attract Always Dreaming, Cloud Computing, Belmont Stakes winner Tapwrit. If all three horses run in so-called Midsummer Derby, a 1 1/4-mile race for 3-yearolds at Saratoga, it would mark the first time that’s happened since Gato del Sol, Aloma’s Ruler and Conquistador Cielo dueled in the 1982 Travers, won by Runaway Groom in a surprise.
The Jim Dandy is named in honor of the horse that scored one of thoroughbred racing’s more notable upsets. He beat Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox
Mott
stage, ending his hopes of a fourth victory in the Rally of Finland, and Lappi never looked back.
Results
in the 1930 Travers at odds of 100-1, one of just seven victories in a 141-race career. The 54th running of the Jim Dandy had three candidates trying to pull off another upset at a track known for them and Good Samaritan delivered.
Earlier Saturday, El Deal pulled away down the stretch and beat Awesome Banner by eight lengths in the Grade I Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga, while favored Limousine Liberal took third.