Molly Carlson and François Imbeau-Dulac, the First Ever High Diving National Champions!
Montreal, May 14, 2023 – This weekend was a historic moment in the development of high diving in Canada. We crowned the first Canadian senior champions in the history of this extreme sport after a national competition held at the Olympic Park Sports Centre, Montreal, on Friday and Saturday.
François Imbeau-Dulac, in the men’s category, and Molly Carlson, in the women’s category, won the coveted titles after a very competitive event. As during the high diving international events, the athletes completed four dives (two per day) and the cumulative score was used to determine the winner. Athletes launched from 15 and 20 meter platforms.
Carlson finished the day with a total of 382.30 points for her four dives on the 20-meter. She was particularly proud of her final dive, the most difficult so far on the women’s side with a degree of difficulty of 4.4, for which she scored 118.80.
The CAMO Diving Club athlete couldn’t wait for the 2023 season to officially get underway to show what she could do, even though she had to deal with the pressure that comes with her sport.
“I was so stressed that I even cried a little bit,” she admitted. I think all my stress for the upcoming season came out yesterday morning before the final rounds. I’ve been working on three new dives for this season and I’m coming back from the concussion I suffered a month ago. I wanted to prove to the judges that I was ready to do an incredible job this season and perform well.”
Carlson, all smiles, made a point of highlighting the quality of her Canadian teammates’ dives. In just a few years, the sport has grown tremendously.
“The level was incredibly high! I think we were all surprised at how big the event has become. We all had a great time competing against each other, as teammates. It’s magical to see the amount of work that Diving Canada has put into high diving and to see everyone’s dives here,” commented Carlson, originally from Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Molly’s CAMO teammate Jessica Macauley took second place. She scored a total of 333.40 points to the cheers of her fans who came out to support her with posters.
Aimee Harrison (291.10), of the Boardworks Diving Club in Victoria, placed third.
François Imbeau-Dulac is back!
You know the name François Imbeau-Dulac. He was at the London Olympics in 2012 on the 3-meter springboard. He has also participated in numerous World Series, World Cups, World Championships, Pan American Games and more. He has finally decided to make the transition to high diving.
In the fall of 2022, he took a break for several months to focus on projects outside of diving. He returned to training just a few weeks ago and his efforts have paid off.
He was the top Canadian on the men’s side, finishing the weekend with 336.60 points.
“Did I expect this? No, because I don’t have many weeks of training in my body. But I know I have very good technique, so it was a game of consistency. This weekend I showed consistency in my dives and it worked,” he said.
“No pressure. I was very nervous for my last dive because I had only learned it last week. I told myself I had to go out there with no doubts. The preparation was good,” he added.
Imbeau-Dulac shared the top step of the podium with Britain’s Aidan Heslop, who was competing at the event as an international guest. Heslop, who now trains full-time in Montreal, earned an impressive score of 407.15.
Nikita Fedotov, also in action as an international guest, had the second best score of the weekend at 337.65. Fedotov, who also trains full time at the CAMO Diving Club, shared the silver medal with Fred Gagné (CAMO) of Quebec. Gagné received 330.10 points for his performance.
Finally, young Alex Tiaglei of Revolution Diving won bronze with 324.85 points.
The competition weekend ended in an emotional and festive way with the presentation of an award to Lysanne Richard in recognition of her involvement in the development of high diving in Montreal.
To review the best moments of the competition and the final standings, visit Diving Plongeon Canada’s Instagram account.