Canada's Alexandre Despatie finally got his gold medal.
The 18-year-old Canadian claimed the gold medal on the 10m platform Saturday in the World Swimming Championships, upsetting two favored Chinese divers.
Despatie scored 716.91 points, with second for Australian Mathew Helm (697.74) and third for China's Tian Liang (696.06). Hu Jia of China was fourth (683.55).
PHOTO: AFP
Tian was the gold medalist three years ago in the Sydney Olympics and Hu won silver. Despatie had been close before, taking silver in the same event two years ago in the worlds in Fukuoka, and fourth in the 2000 Olympics.
It was Canada's second gold of the championships with eight days in the pool beginning on Sunday. The US and Australia are expected to dominate there.
Despatie scored a whopping 107.16 points on his final dive, a backward 2 1/2 somersault with a 2 1/2 from the pike position.
PHOTO: AP
"It's a dive I learned some months ago and fortunately it's turned out well," said Despatie.
"It's the hardest dive of the tournament and today was my day," he added.
Team coach Mitch Geller said it was the highest score for that dive that anyone could remember. The dive had a 3.8 difficulty rating.
PHOTO: AP
Four finals in the pool are scheduled for Sunday: men's and women's 400m freestyle and the men's and women's 400m-freestyle relay.
After Day 7, Russia leads the medal table with seven golds and 12 overall. China has three gold and a total of 10. Canada and Italy are the only countries with two golds. Germany has eight overall, but is without a gold.
Russia picked up two more gold medals on Saturday.
Russian distance swimmer Yury Kudinov won the 25km open-water swim in 5 hours, 2 minutes 20 seconds. It was a photo finish with Spain's David Meca 0.4 behind and Bulgarian Peter Stoichev 0.6 back.
Kudinov's victory was his fourth straight in major competitions. He also won the 25K at the 2000 Open Water World Championships, the 2001 World Championships and the 2002 Open Water World Championships.
Open water swimming is not an Olympic event.
"It wasn't easy," Kudinov said. "Maybe I was just lucky. I didn't believe that I could win."
Runner-up Meca was emotional upon learning the result.
Asked if he thought he'd won, he replied: ``The truth is I closed my eyes and I didn't know myself. We all deserved first place. In my swimming career I've never seen so close a race.''
The Netherlands won its first gold medal when Edith Van Dijk took the 25km swim.
In a sprint finish that began with the leading swimmers slightly off course, the Dutchwoman used a straighter line to the finish in 5:35:43.5 ahead of Germans Britta Kamrau (5:35:46.1) and Angela Maurer (5:35:46.5).
Defending world champion Viola Valli of Italy, who won the 5K and 10K races earlier in the week, did not participate.
After letting another big lead slip with an error-strewn performance at the French Open on Wednesday, top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka felt like getting as far away from the courts as possible. “Just want to quit tennis right now,” Sabalenka said after wasting a lead of a set and two breaks in a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 loss to Diana Shnaider in the women’s singles quarter-finals. “We’ll see in few days. Hopefully I’ll get back on track mentally.” Sabalenka’s wait for a first French Open title continues despite the four-time major winner leading 4-1 in the second set and being two points from victory while
BIG NAMES GONE: Zverev is the clear favorite for a maiden Grand Slam title, reaching semi-finals for the fifth time in six years and finishing second on three occasions Alexander Zverev on Tuesday breezed past Rafael Jodar to stay on course for an elusive Grand Slam title at the French Open, while Jakub Mensik halted Joao Fonseca’s scintillating run in the quarter-finals. Zverev, the highest-ranked player left in the men’s draw, put an end to Spanish teenager Jodar’s impressive Roland Garros debut, easing into the semi-finals with a 7-6, (7/3), 6-1, 6-3 win. The 29-year-old Zverev is the clear favorite for a maiden Grand Slam title. He has finished runner-up on three occasions, including at the 2024 French Open. “I want to win the matches that are ahead of
Liverpool are in advanced talks with former AFC Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola as they seek a replacement for Arne Slot, reports said on Tuesday. Iraola has emerged as Liverpool’s top target to replace Slot, who was sacked on Saturday last week after a turbulent second season in charge. Liverpool have reportedly agreed a deal in principle to bring the Spaniard, who left Bournemouth at the end of this season, to Anfield. Sporting director Richard Hughes was heavily involved in hiring Iraola during his time at Bournemouth and is again spearheading the recruitment of the highly rated coach. The Reds are
KNICKS TAKE LEAD: San Antonio put on a 9-0 run to be up 95-94 with just over 2 minutes to play, but the rest of the game belonged to the New York Knicks It was past five minutes through the third quarter of Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday and the New York Knicks’ 11-game winning streak was in major jeopardy. The Knicks missed nine of their first 10 shots in the early part of the period and trailed the San Antonio Spurs by 14 points. They were floundering. Then something crazy happened. The Knicks found new life from an unlikely source: The Spurs. New York rallied to tie the game by the end of the period, gave up the lead briefly late in the fourth quarter, and pulled away late for a 105-95
RSS