Courtesy: USA Diving
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Kassidy Cook (The Woodlands, Texas/Minneapolis, Minn.) and Sarah Bacon (Indianapolis, Ind./Minneapolis, Minn.) secured their spots on the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team with a victory in women’s synchronized 3-meter Monday at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
Cook and Bacon were the first two divers to punch their tickets to Paris as they scored 629.82 points on two lists of women’s synchronized 3-meter dives on the opening day of trials.
The duo closed out the finals with 70.20 points on their last dive, a front 2 ½ somersaults with one twist. When they hit the water, they knew they had clinched a spot on the team.
Once we landed in the water, we knew we landed in the water as Olympians and that we were going to Paris. We were just overwhelmed with emotion.
“It was that moment when all your hard work comes to fruition. Sometimes that doesn’t always happen. You don’t always get the result you want, and that’s happened to us before,” Cook said. “Once we landed in the water, we knew we landed in the water as Olympians and that we were going to Paris. We were just overwhelmed with emotion.
“It feels amazing. We have been working so hard for so long and given a lot of sacrifices and gone through so much as a team. To finally say that we made the Olympics together, that we’re going to Paris, honestly doesn’t feel real yet, but I’m over the moon.”
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Bacon qualified for her first Olympic team after just missing out on making the 2020 team. Cook, a 2016 Olympian, became the first female diver to make non-consecutive U.S. Olympic teams. Cook and Bacon finished second to Alison Gibson (Austin, Texas) and Krysta Palmer (Reno, Nevada) in synchro at the 2020 trials, with Bacon also finishing third individually.
“We faced a lot of obstacles over the last couple of months together, years honestly. Injuries and all that kind of stuff, so just coming through all of that and making my first Olympic team and her second Olympic team, I don’t have any words right now for it,” Bacon said. “The last Olympics were bittersweet. It was over COVID, and I was one of the favorites to make that team, I would say in both synchro and individual. It just lit a fire underneath me. Honestly, I was planning on retiring after that Olympics, so it kept me diving. I wanted to make an Olympic team.”
Gibson and Palmer finished second with 599.49 points in Monday’s 3-meter synchro contest.
Scores were cumulative over two lists of dives, with Cook and Bacon carrying an 11.22-point lead into the evening finals. They scored 311.55 points in the afternoon preliminaries, with Gibson and Palmer also finishing second in the prelims.
The 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials – Diving run through June 23. Competition continues with synchronized women’s 10-meter and synchronized men’s 3-meter preliminaries and finals on Tuesday.
Bacon, Gibson and Palmer will be among the divers vying for two individual women’s 3-meter spots on the Olympic team. The preliminaries and semifinals are set for Thursday, with the finals on Saturday.
Results:
Women’s Synchronized 3-Meter Final
1. Kassidy Cook/Sarah Bacon, 629.82; 2. Alison Gibson/Krysta Palmer, 599.49; 3. Kyndal Knight/Samantha Pickens, 532.20; 4. Lily Witte/Bailee Sturgill, 504.84; 5. Anne Fowler/Carolina Sculti, 498.63; 6. Ella Roselli/Avery Giese, 462.00
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