AACHEN, Germany – Olympic team member Jennifer Abel of Laval, Que., nailed her final dive to win the silver medal on women’s three-metre springboard on Wednesday at the 40-country world junior diving championships.
Han Wang of China took the gold medal in the 16-18 age group event with 497.15 points in the four-dive final. Abel, 13 th in the event at the Beijing Olympics, followed at 475.55 and Svetlana Fillipova of Russia earned the bronze at 473.20. Carol Ann Ware of St-Hubert, Que., was 13 th in the preliminaries missing a berth in the final by one spot.
‘’I was very satisfied with the result, it was a very strong international field,’’ said Abel, who turned 17 last month. ‘’I gave everything I had.’’
Abel, first after the preliminaries, was in third spot after the second and third rounds in the final but saved her best for last scoring 8.0’s and 8.5’s on her final twisting dive.
‘’On that last dive, I didn’t know where I was in the standings,’’ she said. ‘’But it’s a dive I’m very comfortable with and that’s why I put it last.’’
Abel’s been one of Canada’s busiest divers this season competing at nine international events in 2008 and three national competitions.
‘’I’ve done a good job working hard and keeping focused for this competition,’’ said Abel. ‘’It was a busy period for me after the Olympics especially with school starting up.’’
She’s not through yet. She is also a medal contender in the women’s one-metre springboard which goes on Thursday.
On men’s one-metre springboard in the 14-15 age group, it was a 1-2 Chinese finish with Wongliang Wu placing first, Peng Wang second and Sergey Zhdanov of Russia third.
Kevin Vos of Victoria was reached the final and placed 10 th. Austin Mix of London, Ont., was 24 th in the prelims and did not advance.
‘’I went in wanting to make the final and put in a solid list to see how far it would take me,’’ said Vos, 15. ‘’Some dives could have been better but overall it was very good. I was nervous at the start but settled down as the meet progressed.
Competition continues through to Sunday.
