2021 FINA Virtual Diving Grand Prix – Day 1 presented by 1 Square Phillips and Speedo
Canadians Celina Toth, Katelyn Fung and Elaena Dick took the top three spots in the women’s open platform prelims on Thursday at the FINA Virtual Diving Grand Prix. On the men’s side, Cédric Fofana finished in fourth in the open 3m prelims.
The Canadian edition of the 2021 FINA Diving Grand Prix, also known as the Canada Cup, is being hosted virtually. This is Diving Plongeon Canada’s second virtual competition that allows international athletes to compete against each other in real-time. The event features 34 athletes from 4 nations (GBR, CAN, SVK, USA), competing from 6 different locations.
Toth (Victoria, BC) finished with a combined score of 305.25 to take the top spot in the women’s open platform prelims.
“I wish it went a little bit better for me personally, but given the circumstances of the season and this is my first international, virtual event where I’ve dived completely alone, I think it was OK,” Toth said. “My fourth round dive, my three-and-a-half, was probably my favourite dive of the day. It’s also super nice to get that dive in because it is one that, over the past couple years, I haven’t been able to put it away so today putting that down over everything else was really nice.”
Fung (London, ON) scored 241.85 in the event while Dick (Edmonton, AB) had a cumulative score of 226.70.
In the men’s competition, Fofana (Montreal, QC) finished with a score of 342.85.
“I was really nervous, but I think I managed to do great dives. I did three dives that were good and three dives that were OK. I’m happy with the outcome of the competition,” Fofana said.
“Going forward, I just want to work on the nervous part of my diving. I just want to be able to put my anxiety on the side and focus on my dives more.”
American Tyler Downs finished first with a combined score of 370.70 while Tyler Humphreys (363.75) and Cameron Gammage (358.65) of Great Britain finished second and third.
About the 2021 FINA Virtual Diving Grand Prix – Canada
The FINA Virtual Diving Grand Prix runs May 27-30. The six competition sites include, Saanich Commonwealth Place, Victoria, BC, Shaw Centre, Saskatoon, SK, Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, Toronto, ON and the Olympic Park Sports Centre, Montreal, QC, Forest Park Aquatic Center as well as Noblesville, IN (USA) and the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield, ENG (UK). The event includes 18 judges from across Canada, the UK and the USA who will submit their scores remotely through Integrated Sports System’s uJudge platform as the competition takes place.
The event is managed through five virtual locations across Canada; Results management (Montreal, QC), web stream production and graphics (Thunder Bay, ON), announcing (Kelowna, BC), judging coordination (Victoria, BC), and competition management (Ottawa, ON).
This event is able to occur in large part through important hosting grants that Diving Plongeon Canada received from Sport Canada’s International Single Sport Event program and Ontario’s Sport Hosting Program.
About Diving Plongeon Canada
Diving Plongeon Canada (DPC) was established in 1967 as a not-for-profit organization to promote the growth and awareness of the sport in this country. As a member of FINA, the world’s governing body of aquatic sports, DPC contributes to the development of globally accepted standards of excellence in diving and supports the rules and regulations of international competition. Representing nine provincial diving associations, 67 local diving clubs and close to 4,000 high-performance athletes, DPC shares a national commitment to advance the art and sport of diving and to position Canada as the number one diving nation in the world. For information, visit www.diving.ca.