It was a day of struggles for many divers competing in the semifinals of the women's 3m springboard diving event. In the end, only the competitors atop the leaderboard stayed the same.
China's Chen Yiwen (360.85) was leading at the end of the preliminary round on Wednesday, and stayed at the top of the leaderboard by 26 points over Australia's Maddison Keeney. Four of Chen's five dives scored better than 70 points, and she finished four points better than her prelims score.
Keeney also stayed in second despite her first dive scoring just 58.50 points. She was nearly flawless in the final three jumps of the day, and finished with a 334.70.
It was an incredibly disappointing day for Wednesday's third place finisher Aranza Vazquez. She had two dives of 67 and 68 points, but on her fourth dive she was distracted by something in the crowd and messed up on the takeoff. She severely underrotated a reverse 2 ½ and landed nearly on her back. Vazquez tried to appeal to referees for a re-dive because of a distracting noise in the stadium, but it was not granted. She received zero points on the jump and dropped from fourth to 18th. She finished the day 16th, 30 points away from 12th.
The top 12 finishers on Thursday advanced to Friday's finals.
It was also a somewhat disappointing day for Chen's Chinese teammate, Chang Yani. The 2024 world champion finished fourth in the prelims after a missed dive, and started Thursday's semis with another missed dive, an inward 2 1/2. Chang didn't get a good push off the board and was unable to make it all the way around. She received a score of just 48.00. Chang rebounded with four dives that each scored 66 or better, but she remained in fourth place.
Chang and Chen won gold in the women's synchro springboard competition together earlier this Olympics.
Italy's Chiara Pellacani, who was seventh after the prelims, found herself third after the semis.
Scores do not carry over from one round to the next.
The full list of divers moving on to the finals is listed below.
The finals of the women's 3m springboard diving competition will be held on Friday at 9 a.m. ET.
Top 12 divers
1. Chen Yiwen (China) 360.85
2. Maddison Keeney (Australia) 334.70
3. Ciara Pellacani (Italy) 324.75
4. Chang Yani (China) 320.15
5. Alejandra Estudillo Torres (Mexico) 317.05
6. Julia Vincent (South Africa) 297.30
7. Grace Reid (Great Britain) 290.05
8. Nur Dhabitah Sabri (Malaysia) 286.95
9. Saskia Oettinghaus (Germany) 286.75
10. Valeria Antolino (Spain) 284.25
11. Emilia Nilsson Garip (Sweden) 279.60
12. Yasmin Harper (Great Britain) 278.90