Emma Adams wins her first title; Fetto and Plouffe medal again
Junior Development National Championships
Montréal, July 19, 2026 – Diver Emma Adams made the most of her Sunday at the Lawson Aquatic Centre in Regina, by winning her first-ever Junior Development National title in the Group D 1m event. Liam Fetto and Raphael Plouffe both added more gold to their medal haul in the Group C Boy’s 3m event, and Group D Platform events, respectively.
In the Group D Girl’s finals, Windsor, Ontario’s Adams was assured the gold with a score of 210.10 points. She shared the first-place spot with Renatha Chavez (Regina, 213.40), the latter diver being unable to claim the title because she hasn’t yet been officially granted Canadian citizenship.
“When I realized that I’d won, I was really proud of myself and I was really excited that I got first,” commented 10-year-old Adams, who on Friday, was in second place in the Group D 3m event.
The final in the 1m event was hotly contested, but Adams was able to maintain focus and dive well thanks to a sense of calm and by using visualization techniques – “I closed my eyes and I thought about the dive I wanted to do,” explained the Ontarian.
Kaila Myrfield-Wolfe (Saskatoon; 201.55) and Emmalyn Forrest (SFEC; 199.65) earned the silver and bronze medals, respectively.
After winning gold Saturday in the Platform event, Liam Fetto (CAMO) claimed a second Canadian Championship title in the Boys’ C 3-meter final. The Québec diver again demonstrated impressive consistency, earning scores above 50 on each of his dives in the final.
Fetto commented that he was proud to have won the competition, even though he performed dives with lower degrees of difficulty than some of his competitors. “I went with safer choices, because if I dove poorly, then I may have been in a worse position,” explained the young athlete. It ended up being a smart strategy, earning him the top step of the podium with 379.25 points.
Silver medalist Jasper Cunningham-Gray (BDA, 367.55) and bronze medalist Cormac Nys (EKDC, 365.85), secured their spots on the podium because of excellently executed final dives. Both athletes performed their most difficult dives, and earned the two highest scores of the final (64.80 and 63.45). Despite impressive dives and scores, their efforts weren’t quite enough to dethrone Fetto.
Reflecting on the past few days, Québec-based Fetto noted a lot of positives, “It was really fun, I got to see people I haven’t seen in a long time, plus I got to meet new friends.” Pleased with his diving, he’ll now turn his attention to learning new ways to reduce competition-related stress.
Raphael Plouffe (Envol) grabbed another national championship title, this time in the Group D Platform event. The Québec diver heads home from Regina with heavier luggage – including four individual medals. At the halfway point of the competition, he trailed points leader Thomas Lachapelle—also from Club de Plongeon L’Envol—by less than one point.
Plouffe, 11-years-old, then pulled ahead in the standings with his final two dives that earned him scores of 56.10 and 55.35—the highest of the final.
On his last dive, he performed a double-and-a-half somersault with a tucked position for the first time in competition. “I’ve been doing it for about a month and a half (in training), and even still, I got some good scores,” Plouffe said happily.
All in all, he finished with a score of 261.80 – surpassing his personal best on the platform by 17 points. Lachapelle (231.15) and Liam Pomerleau (ARO; 219.50) rounded out the podium.
In the Girls’ C Handstand event, Blair Yan (iDive) and Margaret Jeon(Forest City) shared the top spot on the podium (just like Renatha Chavez, Jeon is also waiting on Canadian citizenship). Adele Taylor (EKDC) won the silver medal, while Aurélie Tanguay (CAMO) took the bronze.
