China kept up its diving domination, leading the preliminaries
in two more world championship events Tuesday.
Luo Yutong upstaged his No. 1-ranked teammate He Chong by a big
margin - 466.50 points to 423.30 - in men's 1-meter springboard,
giving Luo a good chance of upsetting He in Wednesday's semifinal
and final.
Meanwhile, Chen Ruolin was easily the top diver in women's
10-meter platform, totaling 400.80 points for her five dives.
Mexico's Paola Espinosa claimed second with 367.15, just ahead of
China's other diver, Wang Xin, at 366.45.
The powerful Chinese got off to a rousing start Monday with wins
in both synchronized diving events.
Defending 10-meter world champion Laura Wilkinson had a major
scare. The 29-year-old American botched three straight dives but
pulled it out with her final attempt, a back 2{ somersault with 1{
twists.
She scored high enough to leap from 22nd to 16th, squeaking into
Wednesday's semifinals. The top 18 advanced, with the 12-woman
final set for the evening.
"Don't ever, ever give up until it's over," said Wilkinson, who
has a history of rallying on her final dive.
Although Wilkinson is the defending world champion and captured
the platform title at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Chen is favored in
the event after winning five Grand Prix titles last year.
Wang, her 14-year-old teammate, is looking to pull another upset
after beating Chen by a mere 1.15 points at the 2006 Asian
Games.
Another former world champion, Canada's Emily Heymans, should be
in the mix after finishing fourth in the prelims.
On the men's side, He is the top-ranked diver on the 1-meter
springboard. The Chinese star won the 2006 Canada Cup, USA Diving
and International grand prix events.
He dropped off the Chinese team for the 3-meter synchronized
springboard event in Melbourne, which his former partner, Wang
Feng, won Monday with new teammate Qin Kai. Wang and He won the
synchro title in Montreal in 2005.
"My performance was not good," He said. "It was below average
and I'm not happy with the result.
"I usually don't perform well in the morning, especially in the
cold weather. I don't feel energetic enough."
Luo won two titles in the 3-meter synchro with Xu Xiang on the
Grand Prix circuit last year, in addition to taking silver at the
2006 World Cup in Changshu, China.
Siarhei Kuchmasau of Belarus was a long way back with 387.75
points to qualify third Tuesday, followed by Chris Colwill of the
United States (387.05). Eighteen divers qualified for the
semifinals on Wednesday morning, with the 12-man final later in the
day.
Tuesday's morning session was delayed for about 20 minutes by a
power failure, the second in two days at the complex.
Tobias Schellenberg of Germany, who qualified fifth, played
cards during the power delay. He said he respects the leading
Chinese divers.
"They are just fantastic, but you must not feel intimidated by
them," Schellenberg said. "You can learn heaps from them. That is,
by the way, one of a diver's favorite things - to sit and watch
other divers train."
(China Daily via AP March 21, 2007)