GOLD COAST, Australia - Disaster struck Canadian divers Jennifer Abel and Melissa Citrini-Beaulieu in the three-metre synchronized springboard final at the Commonwealth Games on Wednesday.

First after three dives, the Canadians plummeted after a disastrous fourth dive and finished fifth. They had won silver in the same event at the 2017 FINA World Championships last summer in Budapest.

The slide came on a windy, glitch-filled afternoon at the outdoor Optus Aquatic Centre. South African diver Nicole Gillis slipped on the stairs leading to the springboard, competing only after a bandage was quickly applied to a damaged big toe.

The first day of the diving competition was also delayed by technical issues, which briefly forced the judges to go old-school and hold up signs indicating their marks. It was blamed on a keypad issue affecting one judge.

Australian Maddison Keeney, who finished last with partner Anabelle Smith after a botched final dive received zero points from the judges, fought back tears after the event.

"It was just kind of stress on top of stress that we don't need," Keeney said of the technical complications. "So it was an interesting day for everyone. I don't think anyone can say they dived well."

The Canadians started well, however, climbing into first place after three well-executed dives But it all fell apart on the fourth when Abel lost position on a forward 3 1/2 somersault dive from the pike position, the duo's most difficult dive of the day.

The 26-year-old from Laval, Que., all but jackknifed into the pool with her hands just beating her feet to the water.

"A big technical mistake," said Abel, who won the event in 2010 and took silver in 2014, albeit with a different partner.

The Canadians, who had moved into the lead with a third dive that earned a score of 71.10 (tied for best of the day), received a paltry 33.48 for the dive and dropped well out of medal position.

Rubbing salt into the wound, more technical delays meant the duo had to sit poolside for what seemed like an eternity before they got a set of most unwelcome marks. The fifth dive, worth 45.00 points, did not help matters.

Australia's Esther Qin and Georgia Sheehan took advantage of a terrific final dive - the other 71.10 score on the day - to grab gold with 284.10 points, ahead of England's Alicia Blagg and Katherine Torrance (276.90) and Malaysia's Mun Yee Leong and Nur Dhabitah Sabri (264.90).

The Canadian pair finished with 246.78 points.

"It was a lot of distraction," said the 22-year-old Citrini-Beaulieu, a native of St-Constant, Que., who is competing at her first multisport games. "Diving outside, the crowd, the waiting, the sun, the wind. Everything was kind of new for me."

But she saw positives.

"We're a great team and we have good chemistry," she said. "I don't doubt this. It was just a bad day."

Abel, a three-time Olympian, also chose to look at the promise of the first three dives rather than complain about the conditions.

"It's hard to stay focused and do your things but at the same time we're all in the same boat .. it's not like it's only us."

At 16, Abel was the youngest Canadian diver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She won Olympic bronze at the London Games in 2012 in the three-metre synchro event with the now-retired Emilie Heymans.

After Heymans' retirement, Abel teamed with Pamela Ware. The duo placed fourth in the synchronized three-metre event at Rio but ware was subsequently sidelined by a foot injury.

Four years ago at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Canada won seven diving medals (3-2-2) to finish behind England's 10 (4-3-3). The Canadian women accounted for six of those with Abel leading with a gold and two silver.

Canadian flag-bearer Meaghan Benfeito of Montreal and partner Caeli McKay of Calgary were slated to compete in the 10-metre synchro platform later in the day.