Filion and Benfeito win silver at diving World Series

Filion and Benfeito win silver at diving World Series

BEIJING – Olympic bronze medalists Roseline Filion of Laval, Que., and Meaghan Benfeito of Montreal won silver in the women’s 10-metre synchro event on Friday to open the first stop on the FINA World Series diving circuit.

Ruolin Chen and Huixia Liu of China were the winners with 351.78 points, Benfeito and Filion followed at 316.71 and Yulia Koltunova and Natalia Goncharova of Russia third at 316.56. Chen was the Olympic champion last year and competed with a new partner Friday.

The Canadians received strong marks on their inward and reverse dives to open the final. They received mixed reviews on their next two dives and finished with a solid twisting dive to climb from third to second spot.

In the women’s three-metre synchro Jennifer Abel of Laval and Pamela Ware of Beloeil, Que., took fifth spot. This is a first-year partnership for Abel and Ware. Last season season Abel won the Olympic bronze medal in the event with Emilie Heymans.

Abel and Ware impressed the judges with their synchronization but it was on their execution that they were hit hard on the scoreboard.

Olympic champ Minxia Wu and new partner Tingmao Shi of China were the winners with Alicia Blagg and Rebecca Gallantree of Britain second and Olena Fedorova and Anna Pysmenka of Ukraine third.

The FINA World Series has expanded from four to six-stops this season and is reserved for the top-ranked eight divers in the world in each event.

Competition continues Saturday. Abel competes on women’s individual three-metre.

For live results: http://www.fina.org/H2O/index.php?option=com_content&;view=category&layout=blog&id=47&Itemid=291

Jeff Feeney
Events and Communications Manager

Diving Plongeon Canada

Ph: (613) 668 9668

Em: jeff@diving.ca