Restrepo & Berlin Book Olympic Berths With Pan Am Dive Golds

2019 PAN AMERICAN GAMES

With continental 2020 Olympic diving berths up for grabs, Colombia and Mexico both grabbed gold medals and Olympic spots at the 2019 Pan American Games.

Colombia’s Daniel Restrepo won on men’s 3-meter and Mexico’s Kevin Berlin on men’s 10-meter, earning Olympic berths.

A quick look at the Olympic diving qualifying procedure:

  • Individual events (men’s/women’s 3-meter & 10-meter):
    • Top 12 from the 2019 FINA World Championships earn berths
    • Up to five more can earn berths by winning gold at continental championships, if they’re not already qualified.
    • The top 18 at the 2020 FINA Diving World Cup can earn berths, if they’re not already qualified.
  • Synchro events (men’s/women’s 3-meter & 10-meter):
    • Top 3 from the 2019 FINA World Championships earn berths
    • Top 4 from the 2020 FINA Diving World Cup earn berths if they’re not already qualified
    • The host nation gets one entry in each event, if not already qualified

Restrepo won Colombia’s first-ever diving gold at the Pan American Games. He topped the 3-meter field ahead of Mexico’s Juan CelayaMexico had swept gold and silver in this event for the past two Pan American Games.

Berlin did lead a 1-2 for Mexico on men’s 10-meter. Ivan Garcia was second.

On the women’s side, Canada swept golds in the Olympic events. Jennifer Abel won 3-meter over Mexico’s Dolores Hernandez, and Meaghan Benfeito won 10-meter in a 1-2 with teammate Caeli McKayBoth Abel and Benfeito were already qualified for the 2020 Olympics by virtue of top-12 finishes at 2019 Worlds.

The American women dominated the non-Olympic 1-meter event. Sarah Bacon won gold, followed by Brooke Schultz. That duo took silver behind Abel and Pamela Ware in the synchro 3-meter. Canada also won the synchro 10-meter with Benfeito and McKay.

For the men, Mexico’s Celaya won the 1-meter title over Jamaica’s Yona Knight-Wisdom. Knight-Wisdom won Jamaica’s first-ever diving medal at Pan Ams.

Celaya joined Yahel Castillo to win synchro 3-meter gold, and Garcia and Berlin teamed up to win the synchro 10-meter event.

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About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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