FINA 2009 World Championships

Men’s 10m Synchro Final

The British Gas Diving squad secured third place in the medal table at the FINA World Championships and the final event of the competition saw Tom Daley and Max Brick finish in ninth place.

Favourites Liang Huo and Ye Lin won the event to take China's medal tally to 7 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze in these Championships. David Boudia and Thomas Fincham of the USA finished second, 25.74 points behind, with Jose Antonio Guerra Oliva and Jeinkler Ernesto Aguirre Manso third on 456.60, just 0.24 adrift.

Although Liang Huo and Ye Lin both missed the entry on one of their most difficult dives, the 207 B (3.5 somersaults Back Pike, they did so similarly and without breaking synchronisation! China's lead over Cuba decreased to 11.16, not enough to shake their confidence. Liang Huo and Ye Lin moved ahead by almost 9 points in the two optional rounds, scoring nine "tens", demonstrating their technical perfection.

10m Platform Synchro Men - Prelims and 3m Springboard Synchro Women - Final

British Gas divers Tom Daley and Max Brick succeeded in reaching their first World Championship final as they put in a good performance to leave them ranked in tenth place for their 10m Platform Synchro final.

The new pairing have only previously competed at two competitions and started their event with confidence. They scored well in their required dives, the Inward ½ Somersault piked and the Front 1 ½ Somersaults piked, and went into the first optional round of dives in sixth place. Daley and Brick dropped a couple of marks for some splashy entries in rounds three and five and moved to tenth place. The duo reached their first major international final with a points score of 396.36 and took tenth place overall.

3m Springboard Men Final and 3m Springboard Synchro Women Prelims

Chong He (CHN) won this event a year ago at the Beijing Olympic Games and took the FINA title over US veteran and silver medalist Troy Dumais with Alexandre Despatie (CAN) third. This victory gives Chong He his fourth World Championships medal, as he won the 3m synchro gold and 3m individual bronze in 2005, as well as a gold in the 10m platform in 2003.

Surprisingly China has only won this event twice in the history of the World Championships (in 1994 with Zhuocheng Yu and 2007 with Qin Kai). Dmitry Sautin (RUS), two time winner had wanted to finish his career on top in Rome, but after the Russian duo had earlier failed to get a medal in the synchro event, Sautin withdrew.

3m Springboard Men - Prelims and Semi-Final

Veteran Alexandre Despatie (Canada), Chong Ho (China) and Troy Dumais (USA) all took advantage of a poor final dive from penultimate round leader Xinhua Zhang to occupy the first three places in the semi final.

British Gas Divers Ben Swain and Charles Calvert had finished in 26th and 30th respectively in the premims. Olympian, Swain, dropped his third round dive to fall from 18th to 35th in the leader board and mean his chances of qualifying for the semi-final were reduced.

Swain finished with a total of 356.05 points in 30th place overall. Calvert showed promise through the first rounds as he scored well but dropped marks on his Front 2 ½ Somersaults 1 Twists piked to move him away from a semi-final place. Calvert finished in 26th place with a score of 360.30 points.

10m Platform Men's Semi Final / Final and 3m Springboard Women's Final

Fifteen year old Tom Daley became the first ever British World Diving Champion with an excellent performance in the men’s 10m Individual final.

Daley went head-to-head with the Olympic champion Matt Mitcham, silver medallist Luxin Zhou and junior world champion Qui Bo in the evening’s final. Daley knew he had to bring something special out of the bag because his list of dives has a lower tariff than the other competitors. The Olympic finalist scored 498.75 in his semi final to leave him in third place for the final and he started his competition with a steady dive of Back 2 ½ Somersaults 1 ½ Twists piked to scored to put him in the lead of the world class field.

Daley performed his lowest tariff dive in the second round and moved down the leader board to fourth place and he knew he had to just score consistently in order to remain within his strong position. After the second round the competition turned into a four horse race with Daley, Mitcham, Xhou and Bo pulling away from the field.

10m Platform Men Prelims and 3m Springboard Women Prelims / Semi-Final

The British Gas Diving squad saw Tom Daley seal his place in the semi-final of the men’s 10m Platform Individual with a promising fifth place finish in his prelim. Daley performed his list well as he secured fifth place just behind Olympic Champion Matt Mitcham However, the Olympic finalist got off to a shaky start with an entry that brought up a bit of splash but ensured he was in the top five from the start.

1m Springboard Women and 10m Platform Synchro Women

The British Gas diving squad saw their youngest athlete reach the final of the women’s 10m Platform Synchro on the third day of competition which also saw Olympian Rebecca Gallantree impress in the 1m Springboard final.

Megan Sylvester (15) took to the boards in the morning with her synchro partner Monique Gladding as they fought to seal qualification to the final in only their second international competition. The prelim started with the athletes looking a bit nervous but they finished with strength as they qualified for the final in seventh place.

The British Gas Diving squad saw three athletes achieve top eight finishes in the women’s 10m Platform and men’s 3m Synchro finals at the FINA World Championships in Rome.

Men’s 3m Synchro

Qin Kai and Wang Feng captured the second gold of the Championships for China’s diving team with a 22.35-point advantage over their closest rivals – Troy Dumais and Kristian Ipsen (USA) who had increased their preliminary result by 25 points. Alexander Despatie and Reuben Ross (CAN) rose from 5th place after the 5th dive to finish third.

The Chinese duo, who won overall at the previous World Championships in Melbourne in 2007, as well as the 2008 Olympics, were the strong favourites. Despite their victory however, they didn’t produce their best dives in the preliminaries: Qin Kai made an obvious mistake in the last round (2.5 Reverse with 1.5 Twists) and consequently the Chinese duo took 4th place overall – behind the USA, Canada and Great Britain's Nicholas Robinson-Baker and Benjamin Swain. The British pair were ready to take on the world’s best after their impressive performances in the FINA Diving World Series throughout 2009. The Olympic finalists performed excellently in their preliminary as they beat China and finished in third place overall.

Men's 1m Springboard Prelims and Final and Women's 10m Platform Prelims

The Chinese duo Kai Qin (449.0) and Xinhua Zhang (4445.9) were first and second in the Men's 1m Springboard with Australia's Matthew Mitcham (440.2) third. Peter Waterfield just missed out on winning bronze for the British Gas Diving squad, securing the highest individual placement by any British diver at the World Championships with a score of 432.60.

The win from Kai represents the fifth World Championship gold medal in the 1m springboard for China in the event’s history, as Chinese male divers also claimed the gold in 1998, 2001, 2003 and 2007. It is also the third gold medal for Kai in FINA World Championship history, after he won the 3m springboard and 3m springboard synchro in 2007 in Melbourne. The bronze medal for Mitcham is his first from a FINA World Championships.

Athens Olympic silver medallist Waterfield had performed well through the morning’s preliminary rounds and despite missing his second round dive he sealed his final spot by finishing in tenth place with a score of 365.80.