Canadian divers Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray have advanced to the semifinal in the men's 10-metre platform event at the Paris Olympics.
Wiens, from Pike Lake, Sask., finished third in Friday's preliminaries with a score of 485.25, while Zsombor-Murray, of Pointe-Claire, Que., secured 10th place with 407.20 points.
China's Cao Yuan had the highest preliminary score at 500.15, followed by Rikuto Tamai of Japan at 497.15.
The top 18 divers advanced to Saturday's semifinal.
Wiens and Zsombor-Murray won bronze together in men's synchronized 10-metre platform diving earlier at the Games.
It was Canada's first-ever medal in the event, and the first Canadian men’s diving medal since Alexandre Despatie’s silver in the 3m springboard event in Beijing 2008.
Wiens said he needed a mental reset before the individual event.
"Mentally, I just get rid of all the bronze medal stuff that I had in my room. You know, packed it away to bring home, and pretty much reset after two days after that, and came in like it’s a new competition. A whole new event," he said.
Sitting in third heading into the semifinal, Wiens said he knows he must remain consistent to land a spot in the final.
"I know I've got the dive quality to get into the final, so I’m just going to try to go in and just stay comfy and do what I did in the prelim," he said.
Zsombor-Murray missed his second dive and received scores of 4.0, but showed consistency through the rest of the competition.
"Overall, I did enough to secure a place in the semifinals," he said. "It certainly wasn't my best performance.
"I missed my second dive, but I had to focus on the next ones because it's not over until the last dive. That's why I train. I want to be able to stay in the competition, even if I miss a dive."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 9, 2024.
