SHANGHAI, China -- Canada's Jennifer Abel and Pamela Ware won the silver medal in the women's three-metre synchro event Wednesday at the FINA World Cup diving competition.
Minxia Wu and Shi Tingmao of China won the gold medal at the year's biggest competition in the sport with 340.50 points. The Canadians followed at 318.33 and Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith of Australia were third in 310.14.
"We couldn't be happier," said Abel, an Olympic bronze medallist on three-metre synchro with Emilie Heymans at the 2012 Olympics. "We showed a lot of stability in our dives and we stayed calm throughout the entire competition."
Abel, from Laval Que., and Ware, from Beloeil, Que., bettered by one spot their result at last year's FINA World Championships in Barcelona. They have won nine medals in 12 international events since joining forces last season.
"The key was our compulsory dives," said Abel. "Usually we are trailing behind the others after those dives but today we were in the thick of the battle. Even though we hadn't competed in over a month we maintained our strong performances from earlier this season."
On men's 10-metre synchro, Yue Lin and Yuan Cao of China were the winners with 494.46 points. Sascha Klein and Patrick Hausding of Germany were second at 444.78 and David Boudia and Steele Johnson of the U.S. third at 414.42.
Maxim Bouchard of St. Constant, Que., and 16-year-old Philippe Gagne of Montreal placed 11th.
"It was an amazing and stressful competition at the same time," said Gagne, in his second season with Bouchard. "I'd never competed before such a big crowd and against such tough competition. But we came through it with a very satisfying performance. There's probably only one dive we would want back.'"
Competition continues Thursday with the women's 10-metre synchro final featuring Olympic bronze medallists Meaghan Benfeito of Montreal and Roseline Filion of Laval as well as the men's three-metre synchro with Gagne and Francois Imbeau-Dulac of St-Lazare, Que.
