2021 Virtual Nations Challenge Day 2 presented by 1 Square Phillips and Speedo
Jennifer Abel and Melissa Citrini-Beaulieu took the top seed in the women’s open 3m synchro event and Meaghan Benfeito and Caeli McKay finished first and second respectively in the women’s open platform finals on Friday at the Virtual Nations Challenge.
Molly Carlson was first in the women’s high dive platform finals.
On the men’s side, Rylan Wiens finished third in the men’s open platform finals while Nathan Zsombor-Murray was seventh.
The Virtual Nations Challenge is Diving Plongeon Canada’s first web-based competition that allows international athletes to compete against each other in real-time. This edition features 37 athletes from four countries (GBR, CAN, JAM and RSA).
“It felt really good, actually to finally see some international faces,” said Benfeito (Laval, QC). “It kind of gets the real adrenaline going ‘cause obviously you want to do well. It was great to see the Great Britain team, they looked great. The nerves were there, but it was also good to put on a show for everybody.”
Abel (Laval, QC) and Citrini-Beaulieu (Saint-Constant, QC) compiled a score of 317.40 for the top spot in the women’s open 3m synchro finals.
The teammates were happy to be able to rebound from their individual performances on Thursday.
“We are very pleased with our performance today,” Abel said. “I think we were both a little disappointed with our performance yesterday in our individual competitions. But we were able to come back today and put those performances behind us and deliver a very good performance in synchro.”
Benfeito finished ahead of her teammate McKay (Montreal, QC) in the women’s open platform finals with a cumulative score of 365.10. McKay compiled a score of 348.90.
Celina Toth (Victoria, BC) was fourth with a score of 318.65 and Elaena Dick (Edmonton, AB) seventh with 311.60.
For Benfeito, the finals were an opportunity to re-focus following a fourth-place finish in the prelims.
“I just wanted to show everybody I have been working hard at practice and I’m really happy with my last dive which is the inwards three-and-a-half,” she said. “That’s the dive that has been either a good dive or bad dive and ever since we got back from the lockdown, I haven’t been able to do it properly. So today to finally be able to put it down properly – I haven’t even done that in a practice.”
Carlson (Montreal, QC) scored a combined total of 340.50 in the women’s high dive platform finals.
While Wiens’ (Saskatoon, SK) combined score of 450.00 was good for third in the men’s open platform finals. Zsombor-Murray (Pointe-Claire, QC) finished with a score of 400.35.
The Virtual Nations Challenge features seven judges from across Canada and the U.K. submitting their scores remotely through Integrated Sports Systems uJudge platform as the competition takes place.
The competition sites include the London Aquatics Centre in London, England, the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh, Scotland and Sports Centre at Montreal’s Olympic Park in Canada. This event provides an opportunity for the athletes to see how they measure up against some of the best divers in the world.
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.
