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Canada misses out on podium on Day 2 of FINA Diving World Series

Montreal's Meaghan Benfeito and Celina Toth of St. Thomas, Ont., both failed to qualify for the women's 10-metre platform final on Saturday as Canada fell short of the podium on the second day of competition at the FINA Diving World Series.

Benfeito, a double bronze medallist at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, finished fifth in her semifinal. Disaster struck when she scored 14.85 on her third dive, a back 3 1/2 somersault.

"I didn't do my tuck properly, I didn't hold it tight enough," Benfeito said. "My hand slipped a little at the entrance, when I had to open. This is not a mistake I make often, but it can happen. I'm a little sad and it hurts."

Benfeito won bronze in the previous series stop in Beijing on March 9 after winning silver in the season opener in Sagamihara, Japan. She was tied for second in the series rankings with China's Ren Qian through the first two stops with 30 points.

"It's been a long time since I missed a dive like that," said Benfeito, who won silver in the women's 10-metre synchronized final Friday. "If I miss one, it gets scored a four. This is like a slap in the face, but you learn more when you lose, when you do bad dives rather than when they are always good. I'm going back tonight for mixed sync and I'm going to give it all. I'm going back to training this week to focus on what I did to correct it.

China won gold and silver in the women's three-metre final, with Lu Wei finishing first and Si Yajie finishing second, each in their first individual competition in the series this season.

Toth finished sixth in her semifinal.

Philippe Gagne of Montreal finished sixth in the men's three-metre springboard final.

"Diving, sometimes you can have a bad day and if it's on competition day you can't really do anything about it," Gagne said. "For Meaghan, that day was today. Even the best in the world, sometimes they can miss. And Meaghan's a great example, she's an Olympic medallist and some days it's just not your day."

China's Xie Siyi won his second gold in the event this season after winning silver in the previous stop in Beijing. Jack Laugher of Great Britain won silver and China's Cao Yuan, the gold medallist in the previous stop, won bronze for his third podium finish.

"Our goal today was to make the final," Gagne said. "It's a very competitive environment, the top 12 in the world, but I'm pretty happy overall. It's far from my best score but I think I was able to deliver a pretty solid performance."

Francois Imbeau-Dulac of Terrebonne, Que., finished fifth in his semifinal.

Benfeito and Nathan Zsombor-Murray of Pointe-Claire, Que. finished fifth in the mixed 10-metre synchronized platform.

"She showed a little bit of resilience to go out there after the disappointment from the morning," said Canadian coach Arturo Miranda. "And she did well but she's still lingering with a little bit of an injury, so that was a little unfortunate, but she got back on the boards in the right way."

Lian Junjie and Si Jayie of China won gold in the mixed 10-metre synchronized event.

The stop concludes with the men's 10-metre platform, women's three-metre springboard and mixed three-metre synchronized competitions Sunday.

Sean Farrell, The Canadian Press

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