March 21, 2007

Wilkinson gives U.S. another fourth-place finish at World Championships

MELBOURNE, Australia – Laura Wilkinson (Spring, Texas) turned in another gutsy performance in the women’s 10-meter finals at the World Championships on Wednesday night.

She finished fourth with 361.80 points, giving the U.S. its third fourth-place finish of the championships. China took the top two spots, with gold going to Wang Xin (432.85) and silver to Chen Roulin (410.30). Germany’s Christin Steuer took the bronze with 386.85 points.

“The goal’s always to win a medal, but I’m just so happy with my performance. This is my last World Championships, and I wanted to have fun,” she said.

Wilkinson’s fourth-place finish was yet another example of her ability to keep fighting no matter what. She had some problems with her back 3 ½ in the third round and fell to seventh place, but scored 86.7 points on each of her last two dives to move up to fourth in the final standings.

She pulled off an even bigger comeback in the prelims when she missed three straight dives and was in 22 nd place with only one round to go. She pulled it out and finished 16 th to advance to the semis.

The dive that gave her the most trouble in the prelims – her inward 3 ½ -- was one of her best in the finals. She received two 9s and five 8.5 marks for 81.6 points.

“It felt so good to hit it big tonight,” she said.

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