China has once again established it has two divers in each diving event who will be mainstays at the top of the standings.
China’s Wang Zongyuan and Xie Siyi finished Nos. 1 and 2 in the semifinals of the men’s 3m springboard diving competition on Wednesday, the same place they were following the preliminary round on Tuesday.
The top 12 divers in the semis move on to the finals. After the preliminary round on Tuesday, American Carson Tyler was in 10th place and his teammate Andrew Capobianco was 15th. Following six dives in the semis, Tyler moved up three spots and into the finals. Capobianco stayed in the same spot to see his Paris Olympics come to an end.
Announcer Laura Wilkinson said on the broadcast divers would likely need to be over 400 after all six rounds on Wednesday to make it to the finals. Capobianco finished the day with a score of 407.65, but it still wasn’t enough as the best divers in the world showed out.
Both Americans were in contention for the finals after the first three rounds. Tyler was sitting ninth, and Capobianco was 12th. In the fourth round, Capobianco’s day took a turn for the worst. A back 3 ½ — a dive he also missed in the prelims — was under-rotated, and he received a score of just 37.80, dropping him back to 18th.
He did better on his last two dives. A forward 2 ½ with three twists that carried his toughest degree of difficulty at 3.9, was performed well and received all 7s from the judges for a score of 81.90. In the sixth and final round, Capobianco, who won an Olympic silver medal in Tokyo three years ago in the synchro springboard event, had 17 points to make up and three divers to pass. He performed a forward 4 ½ somersault that scored 83.6, but it wasn’t enough. He finished nine points out of 12th.
Tyler, on the other hand, found success on dives he struggled with in the prelims. On his fourth dive he performed a backward 2 ½ and nailed it on his second attempt in Paris, scoring all 8s to stay in 10th place. His last two dives were his toughest — a reverse 3 1/2 and another reverse dive with more than three twists. He scored 78.75 on both dives and finished the day with a final score of 438.00. He was just three tenths of a point out of sixth, and was five points better than eighth.
Wang and Xie established themselves as the class of the field. Wang’s final dive — a forward 4 ½ — received a score of 102.60, the best scoring dive of any performed in Paris so far. He finished the day with a score of 537.85.
Xie scored 70 on one dive, but was better than 80 on all others. His final dive of the day scored 96.90, and he finished with a score of 505.85. Xie is the defending Olympic gold medalist in the springboard event. He took time off from diving since Tokyo to get married and earn his Master's Degree.
Third place finisher Jack Laugher (467.05), from Great Britain, was 38.8 points behind Xie. Laugher was followed by Mexico’s Osmar Olvera (463.75) and GB teammate Jordan Houlden (445.55).
Divers knew they would need to be over 400 points to get into the finals, but they’ll very likely need to be well over 500 to get on the podium. The finals of the men’s springboard will take place on Thursday at 9 a.m. ET.