Canada finished the Pan American Games diving competition with two silver medals Wednesday evening in Santiago, Chile. Nathan Zsombor-Murray placed second in the men’s 10m, while Pamela Ware and Mia Vallée did the same in the women’s 3m synchro.
In a very tough final, Zsombor-Murray temporarily held first place for four rounds. Before his sixth and final visit to the tower, the Pointe-Claire diver held a lead of 12.65 points over Mexican Randal Willars. Zsombor-Murray finished the competition in style with a score of 78.40, good for a total of 476.15.
A few moments later, Willars went all out with the dive at the highest level of difficulty of the competition (4.1) and his score of 94.30 allowed him to beat the Canadian at the finish line with a total of 479.40. Another Mexican, Kenny Zamudio (451.60) completed the trio of medalists, just ahead of Canadian Rylan Wiens (449.15).
“It’s super close at the end and I can’t stop being a little bit disappointed because it was so close. I know I can do a little better after a few dives. We didn’t have a lot of time to train for this competition, so under the circumstances, it’s pretty good. I didn’t hold back. I gave everything,” explained the silver medalist after leaving the podium.
Diving with a mix of confidence and nervousness in the final, Zsombor-Murray believes the victory came down to his fifth dive where he received his lowest score. “With more vertical and less splash when entering the water, it would have been gold for me. »
Rylan Wiens also had mixed feelings after the ordeal.
“A fourth place is always a bit difficult, but I’m really happy with the way I fought. It’s only been three weeks since I returned to training and I can’t wait to see what awaits me for the rest of the season,” admitted the Saskatoon athlete who had been kept away from the tower since May due to a back injury.
“I didn’t know if I would come here or what my progression would look like, but I wanted to be here, so to finish with a silver medal and a fourth place, I’m super happy! »
Remember that the Canadians were silver medalists in the 10m synchro last Sunday.
Pamela Ware and Mia Vallée produced a spectacular comeback to finish the 3m synchro event in second place (280.65). After the third of five dives, they were provisionally sixth in the standings, 12 points off the podium. The Canadian duo, however, managed to turn things around in the last two dives by collecting the best scores of these rounds, which allowed them to beat the Americans Hailey Hernandez and Jordan Skilken (279.06) by 1.59 points.
Mexicans Arantxa Chavez and Paola Pineda (285.48) won the gold medal.
“It’s really hard to come back mentally after missing a dive, so I’m really proud of us! » acknowledged Ware. “The last two dives, I think they were the best last two dives that we did in competition. I wasn’t stressed and I knew we could come back with these two dives which were really good. And that’s why we keep them at the end. »
Already a double gold medalist, in the 1m and 3m, the Quebecer admits that she didn’t think too much about the gold medal which would have allowed her to have a perfect stay in Santiago.
“We’re happy and a little disappointed at the same time because our third dive was the reason we lost the gold medal,” Ware continued, adding that the highlight of their competition was their synchronicity. .
Mia Vallée emphasized feeling more confident in the company of her teammate than the day before, in the individual event.
“It’s my second silver medal at these Games and it’s just an incredible feeling after a year where I didn’t perform to my best,” admitted Vallée, also decorated with silver in the 1m.
The Canadian diving team concludes its trip to the Pan American Games with a total of eight medals: two gold, five silver and one bronze.
