Diving: Despatie and Ross win bronze at world aquatic championships

ROME – Alexandre Despatie of Laval, Que., and Reuben Ross of Regina nailed their final two dives and snared the bronze medal in the men’s three-metre synchro diving competition on Saturday at the world aquatic championships.

Olympic champions Kai Qin and Feng Wang of China won the gold medal with 467.94 points and Troy Dumais and Kristia Ipsen of the U.S., were second at 445.59. Despatie and Ross took the bronze in their international debut as a team at 428.64 edging an Italian pair by only 0.09 points.

“We are super happy with our performance,” said Despatie, 24, savouring his seventh career world championship medal. “It was a very tough competition and many teams dove really well. I don’t think we’re surprised with the medal, in fact we though we could have dome some things better in the final. We knew we had the potential to do well here.”

The Canadians, who competed only once before at the summer nationals last month, slipped as low as eighth after Ross struggled with his forward dive in the fourth round. However with their two toughest dives remaining, Despatie and Ross earned big scores on their twisting dive and their inward dive.

“I’m still finding it hard to believe that we’ve won a world championship medal” said Ross, 23 an Olympic team member last year. ‘’The key for us is that we both have confidence in our abilities. I didn’t even pay attention to the scores throughout the competition so I wasn’t aware how close it was. I don’t need more things to think about when I’m diving.’’

On women’s 10-metre tower, Meaghan Benfeito of Montreal delivered the best performance of her career finishing an unexpected fourth with 396.50 points. Veteran Paola Espinosa of Mexico won the gold medal at 428.25 with Ruolin Chen of China second at 417.60 and her compatriot Kang Li third. Roseline Filion of Laval, Que., was 10th.

Benfeito was 16th in the preliminaries on Friday and sixth in the morning semifinals.

‘’I just completely forgot about my performance in the preliminaries,’’ said Benfeito, 20. ‘’My semis went well and just told myself to give everything I got in the final. You never know what can happen but I knew the three girls that finished ahead of me would be hard to beat.’’

But she gave it a shot scoring 9.0’s and 9.5’s on her armstand dive and more 9.0’s on her twisting dive to end the competition.

‘’The armstand dive is always a reliable one for me,’’ said Benfeito. ‘’But I had never done it that well before.’’

Filion, the reigning Canadian champion, was hoping to fare better.

‘’I’m a little disappointed,’’ she said. ‘’ I broke the 340 point barrier which was a goal. But I was nervous and I rushed a couple of dives that I can usually do much better.’’

Competition continues Sunday.

Swimming: Edmonton’s Paige Kremer chasing her dreams at age group nationals

MONTREAL- Paige Kremer of Edmonton won two gold medals and broke a 16-year-old Canadian record in her age group on Friday at the Canadian Age Group Championships swimming competition being held this week at Parc Jean-Drapeau.

Kremer posted victories in both the girls 100-metre backstroke and 200 butterfly in the 12 and under age group. Her time of 1:07.13 in the 100 backstroke was a national age group record in the 11-12 category. Michelle Cruz held the previous mark of 1:07.31 set in 1993.

“It was a big thrill to break the record,” said Kremer. “It something I was shooting for at this meet. My coach told me to go out and swim fast and that’s what I did. My long term goal is to one day race at the Olympics.”

It was also a big night for David Sharpe of Halifax. He bettered his personal best by more than two seconds in a comeback 200 butterfly victory in the 17-18 age group clocking 2:01.68. Twenty minutes later Sharpe added a silver medal performance in the 100 backstroke.

“The 200 fly was a very close race but I could only see one guy so I just focused on finishing the best I could,” said Sharpe, a member of Canada’s World University Games team. “For the 100 back, I warmed down as best as I could and came close to my personal best. I deliberately picked back-to back races because it toughens you up.’’

Competition continues through to Monday.

Diving: Edmonton diver Eric Sehn seventh on one-metre at world aquatic championships

ROME – Eric Sehn of Edmonton finished seventh in the men’s one-metre final on Friday as the diving competition got underway at the world aquatic championships.

Double Olympic medallist Kai Qin led China to a 1-2 finish earning 449.00. Xinhua Zhang was second at 445.90 points. Matthew Mitcham of Australia took the bronze at 440.20.

Sehn, 24, totalled 391.80 in his worlds debut. He moved as high as fourth place after the third round but subpar marks on his fourth dive, a backward two and half, knocked him down to eighth place. He was able to regain a spot finishing the event with two solid dives averaging 8.0’s on his reverse and twisting dives.

“I wanted to make the final and getting seventh place is pretty good for a first world championship,” said Sehn, also scheduled to compete on 10-metre next week. “I hit a couple of dives really well and that helped me out. My backward dive is one that is inconsistent for me. I just rushed it too much this time.”

The preliminaries were also held on women’s 10-metre tower. Olympic champion Ruolin Chen of China holds the lead at 388.65, Melissa Wu of Australia stands second at 359.80 and Kang Li of China is third at 342.40.

Roseline Filion of Laval, Que., stands sixth at 322.35 and Meaghan Benfeito of Montreal took 16th spot. Both Canadians advanced to the semifinal on Saturday.

Filion was in 11th spot heading into the last round but registered 76.50 points for her twisting dive, the second best score of the day for that dive, to shoot up the standings.

“The preliminaries are the toughest part of the competition because we wait so long between dives,” said Filion, who was among a field of 31 divers and waited 45 minutes between her dives. “But I was able to keep my energy level up for the entire competition and put myself in a good position heading into the semifinals.”

Competition continues Saturday with the women’s semis and final on tower and the prelims and final on men’s three-meter synchro featuring Alexandre Despatie of Laval and Reuben Ross of Regina.

Swimming: Canada kicks off FINA World Championships with open water swimming 5km

ROME – Philippe Dubreuil of Sherbrooke, Que., and Zsofia Balazs of Toronto lead a six-member Canadian team in the open water swimming events at the world aquatic championships.

“The Open water events will be a great way to kick off the FINA Worlds for Canada,” said Pierre Lafontaine, CEO and National Coach. “You will be seeing lots of great distance pool swimmers crossing over to the open water events. The competition is getting stronger and our swimmers have shown great strength internationally, so we’re quite excited.”

Last month, Dubreuil, 27, earned his first career international victory at the U.S., Open Water world championship trials in the men’s 10 kilometre. He is set to swim both the five kilometre and 10 kilometre in Rome.

Also on the men’s open water team are David Creel, 28, of Victoria and Simon Tobin, 24, of Ste-Foy, Que. Creel has battled back from an elbow injury to qualify for the team in both the five and 10 kilometre events. Before this season, Creel hadn’t raced in open water since October 2007.

Tobin gained a lot of confidence with his 10th place finish in the 10 kilometre at the U.S., Open trials and is scheduled to swim the event in Rome.

While the men’s team is very experienced, Canada’s three swimmers in the women’s event are under-20. Zsofia Balazs, 19, of Toronto is already a young veteran in the sport and she is joined by Bridget Coley of Hamilton and Nadine Williams of Sherwood Park, Alta., both 16. Balazs won the first ever Canadian National 10k championships in 2006 and has been a strong force in the Open water distance events.

Balazs is scheduled to race the five and 10 kilometre events and will be joined by Coley in the five kilometre and Williams in the 10 kilometre.

The men’s and women’s five kilometre is on Sunday (July 19), the women’s 10 kilometre is on July 21, the men’s 10 kilometre on July 22, the women’s 25 kilometre on July 23 and the men’s 25 kilometre on July 25.

Pool events start on Sunday, July 26.

Swimming: Brittany MacLean following in big sister’s footsteps at 2009 Age Group Nationals

MONTREAL- Brittany MacLean of Etobicoke, Ont., appears to be following in her sister’s footsteps in swimming after a double gold performance on Thursday at the Canadian age group championships.

MacLean’s sister, 17-year-old Heather, was one of the revelations at last week’s world championship team trials posting two victories and gaining a berth on the squad.

On Thursday, Brittany MacLean and Julie Calvert of Oakville, Ont., finished tied for first in the women’s 200 individual medley and MacLean edged Calvert in the 50-metre backstroke in the 15 and under age group.

‘’I hadn’t done as well as I wanted this season in the 200 IM so it was great to come in here tonight and take a big chunk of time off my personal best,’’ said MacLean, 15. ‘’The 50 backstroke is more of a fun race and I was glad to get the win.’’

Other double winners on Thursday included Olympian Lindsay Seeman of Newmarket, Ont., in the 200 IM and 800 freestyle in the 16-18 age group and Marni Oldershaw of Oakville in the 50 back and 200 IM in the 14 and under group.

For the men, Kevin Bustamante of Montreal took the 50 back and 200 IM in 14 and under and Matthew Grillo of Pointe-Claire, Que., won the 50 back and 100 freestyle in 16 and under.

‘’I had a bad start in the 200 IM but I never gave up,’’ said Bustamante. ‘’I imagined I was at the Olympics and gave it everything I had.’’

Competition continues Friday at Parc Jean-Drapeau.