Louis Daignault
Canadian Sport News for Diving Canada
VICTORIA, May 2, 2003 -�milie Heymans of St-Lambert, Blythe Hartley of Vancouver, Alexandre Despatie of Laval, and Arturo Miranda of Mississauga, Ont., all earned berths for this summer�s world championships in opening night action Friday at the 19-country FINA Grand Prix diving competition.
On women�s 10-metre tower, Heymans cruised to first spot in her semifinal with 380.40 points. Olympic champion Laura Wilkinson of the U.S., was second at 309.51 and Juliana Veloso of Brazil third at 281.13. Roseline Filion of Montreal was sixth. In the other semi, Loudy Tourky of Australia was first at 308.46, Blythe Hartley of Calgary second at 306.87 and Olivia Maresch of Germany third at 298.62. Marie-Eve Marleau of Montreal was sixth.
The top-three in each semi advance to the final. The top-two Canadians this weekend on each board (three and 10-metre) qualify for the Canadian team for the 2003 World Aquatic Championships July 13-27 in Barcelona. Therefore Heymans and Hartley are sure to gain those spots on tower.
��Getting the world team berth is a big load off my shoulders,�� said Heymans, who has four medals this season on the Grand Prix circuit. ��I only made one mistake and that happened in the preliminaries and it wasn�t a big factor. I dove well. I kept the same list as earlier this season because it�s worked well so far.��
On men�s three-metre, Miranda upset Despatie by just over a point (404.34 to 403.08) in their semifinal pool as both qualified for the final and gained the two berths in the event for the world team. Antonio Ally of Britain was the third qualifier for the final in that semifinal while Philippe Comtois of Laval was sixth and does not advance.
In the other semi, the three qualifiers for the final were Robert Newbery of Australia in first followed by Troy Dumais of the U.S., and Joona Puhakka of Finland.
The finals for both events are late Friday.
Competition continues Saturday with finals starting at 2 p.m. for the men�s and women�s 10-metre synchronized events and the women�s three-metre.
Put on line on May 2 by SVP
