Canadian diving team hopes to use world championships near misses as motivation

Pamela Ware of Canada celebrates with her bronze medal after the women's 3m springboard diving final at the World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Friday, July 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

The Canadian diving team didn't win as many medals as it might've liked at the FINA World Aquatics Championships, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, says one of its coaches.

Canada finished with two bronze medals in Fukuoka, Japan, this week.

Calgary's Caeli McKay came third in women's 10-metre platform, as did Montreal's Pamela Ware in three-metre springboard. Canada also earned three quota spots for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The Canadians had some close calls -- missing the podium by 0.65 points and 1.77 points on two separate occasions.

Coach Gilles Emptoz-Lacote believes those results should motivate his team heading into an Olympic year.

"We have been missing a little bit of detail in some events," Emptoz-Lacote said earlier in the week. "This is good because it will challenge us for the next season, so I think that's very important. And that we learn from those little mistakes or details that we have to keep working on.

"I think that the most important thing for me is to keep believing that we are there. ... The belief for me is very important for the next worlds."

After the retirements of four-time Olympians Jennifer Abel and Meaghan Benfeito, some young Canadian divers have made an impression on the international scene since the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Mia Vallee, a 22-year-old from Beaconsfield, Que., broke onto the scene by winning silver and bronze in last year's world championships.

Rylan Wiens, a 21-year-old from Pike Lake, Sask., and 20-year-old Nathan Zsombor-Murray of Pointe-Claire, Que., won bronze as a pair in the 10-metre synchronized event at the 2022 worlds, a first in that event in Canadian diving history.

Zsombor-Murray also won bronze at a Montreal World Cup event in May.

At the world championships, however, Vallee narrowly missed the podium in three-metre synchro with Ware, finishing fifth. Vallee didn't qualify past the preliminary round in both the one-metre and three-metre individual events.

Zsombor-Murray placed seventh in the men's 10-metre platform Saturday to earn an Olympic quota spot, but didn't compete in the synchronized tower after Wiens withdrew from the world championships due to injury.

"My main goal was to qualify Canada, so I can safely say I did what I set out to accomplish this week," Zsombor-Murray said in a statement. "I'm glad to have been able to do it, and I'm looking forward to whatever's next. I'm prepared to keep working."

Fortunately for all of them, they won't have to wait long for another chance to dive with the World Cup Super Final set for Aug. 4-6 in Berlin, followed by October's Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.

"I think this is going to be a chance for the divers to keep working on those small details that they need to address to be a little more precise, a little bit more confident in their dives," said Emptoz-Lacote.

Ware and McKay head into these next events in great form.

With her bronze, the 30-year-old Ware earned a first world championship podium since 2015, backing up her three-medal performance in Montreal two months ago.

Ware says she needs to improve her technique -- which has been better in practice than in competition -- and keep up her rediscovered love of the sport to maintain her momentum through the Olympics.

"Showing up every day and having fun is the best way to go about it," she said. "If you're not having fun, then where's the motivation, right? I'm just trying to keep everything and the motivation going with having fun and doing what I need to do to keep that all going."

Though McKay is just 24, she's among the most experienced divers on Canada's team. In May, she told reporters she sometimes gets called "Grandma" by her peers.

Coming off surgery on a severe ankle injury in October, McKay has steadily worked back close to full health and earned her first-ever medal at a world championships.

She's excited to build on that and be back in competition in just a couple weeks.

"It's definitely a lot," said McKay of the busy schedule. "(But) I'm really excited to be competing a little bit more frequently. It's good for everybody.

"I'm looking forward to Berlin, I definitely have a weight off my shoulders now having gotten the Olympic quota spot here, and in Berlin, I can just go and do it for me and try and do my best there."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 22, 2023.