Mission Viejo: Nathan Zsombor-Murray sixth on tower

Fifteen-year-old Nathan Zsombor Murray of Pointe-Claire, Que., took the sixth spot on Saturday in the men’s 10-metre final at a FINA Grand Prix diving competition.

Randall Willars Valdez of Mexico won the gold medal with 479.55 points, Matthew Dixon of Britain followed for silver at 471.10 and Brandon Loschiavo of the U.S. was third at 442.70.

It was the first time that Zsombor-Murray reached a final in an individual event on the Grand Prix circuit.

‘’Just to be in the final was a big accomplishment for me,’’ he said. ‘’I was definitely a little nervous and I was hoping I would have scored better.’’

Zsombor-Murray earned 30 points less than in Thursday’s semifinal with 370.75. Those points were loss primarily on his backward dive in the third round for which he averaged 4.0’s from the judges.

‘’The backward dive is usually consistent for me,’’ he said. ‘’But I kicked too early and I wasn’t able to recover in time. Usually, the reverse is my weakest but today I was able to squeeze it in for half decent marks.’’

Competition ends Sunday with the women’s platform final featuring Elaena Dick of Edmonton.

Full results: https://secure.meetcontrol.com/divemeets/system/meetresultsext.php?meetnum=5945#