Courtesy: USA Diving
SAGAMIHARA, Japan – Competition continued for Team USA at the FINA Diving World Series 2019 – Sagamihara as Maria Coburn (Austin, Texas) and Tarrin Gilliland (Midland, Texas) placed eighth in the women’s 3-meter synchro, while Mark Anderson (Lake Forest, Calif./Austin, Texas) and Tyler Downs (Ballwin, Mo.) finished seventh in the men’s 3-meter synchro.
Shortly before competition, Krysta Palmer (Carson City, Nev./Reno, Nev.) was scratched from the women’s 3-meter synchro due to injury. Gilliland, who competed in the women’s platform synchro hours before, stepped in to compete with Coburn in their first synchro competition together, where the pair finished in eighth place with 252.18 points. Their best dive, a back 2 ½ tuck, came in the third round and scored the pair 62.16 points. The Texas natives finished 13.32 points behind Malaysia’s K.Q.P. Bong and N.D.B. Sabri. Shi Tingmao and Wang Han captured the gold medal with 330.00 points, while Canada’s Jennifer Abel and M. Citrini Beaulieu finished 27.03 points behind China to place second. Australia’s Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith earned the bronze medal with 301.83 points.
In the men’s 3-meter synchro final, Anderson and Downs placed seventh with 363.72 points. Despite holding eighth place through the first four rounds of competition, the synchro partners were able to inch up to seventh place following a strong reverse 3 ½ tuck for 71.40 points, their best dive of the day. In their final dive, the pair’s forward 2 ½ somersaults with 2 twists for 67.32 points secured their spot at seventh, leading Japan’s Sho Sakai and Ken Terauchi by 41.49 points. China’s Cao Yuan and Xie Siyi clinched first place with 446.82 points. Jahir Ocampo Marroquin and Rommel Pacheco Marrufo of Mexico earned the silver medal with 427.86 points, while Daniel Goodfellow and Jack Laugher finished 7.35 points behind Mexico for the bronze medal.
The World Series – Sagamihara continues Friday evening at 8 pm ET with Anderson (Lake Forest, Calif./Austin, Texas) competing in the men’s 3-meter semifinals. The FINA World Series – Sagamihara can be watched live on FINA TV.
