September 2, 2007

Dumais/Richeson fifth, Foster seventh as first leg of FINA Diving World Series wraps up  

SHEFFIELD, England – The first leg of the FINA Diving World Series wrapped up Sunday with three U.S. divers competing in two events.

Troy Dumais (Ventura, Calif.) and Mitch Richeson (Greenwood, Ind.) took fifth in the men’s synchronized 3-meter contest, and Nancilea Foster (Spring, Texas) was seventh on women’s 3-meter.

The World Series is a new FINA event that spans three continents in three weeks, with contests scheduled in Mexico and China later this month. The top eight divers on individual Olympic events and the top six synchronized teams from the 2007 World Championships were invited to participate in the World Series. The host country was also permitted to enter divers in the field.

Richeson and Dumais, who were fourth at the World Championships, scored 388.35 points to take fifth at the World Series. World Champions Qin Kai and Wang Feng of China were first at 441.84, and Canadians Alexandre Despatie and Arturo Miranda, the silver medalists at Worlds, were second with 416.76. The World Series bronze went to Great Britain’s Ben Swain and Nicholas Robinson-Baker, who scored 402.66 points.

Foster scored 257.50 points in her semifinal, finishing seventh in the final overall standings. World champion Guo Jingjing of China won the gold with 363.40 points. Russia’s Yuliya Pakhalina, who was fifth at Worlds, scored 359.00 points for silver, beating out China’s Wu Minxia, who settled for 332.80 points and a bronze at the World Series after winning the silver medal at the World Championships.

Chinese divers also won the other two events contested Sunday, including men’s 10-meter – the one event they failed to win at the World Championships in March. This time, Lin Yue scored 534.90 points for gold, followed by teammate Zhou Luxin at 505.95. Russia’s Gleb Galperin, who won the world title in March, took the bronze with 446.55 points.

Chen Roulin and Wang Xin, the current world champions, won the women’s 10-meter synchro gold with 352.08 points.

With the first leg of the World Series under wraps, the divers now head to Mexico City, where the second leg will be contested September 7-8. The final competition will be held in China on September 15-16.

Joining Dumais, Richeson and Foster on Team USA are David Boudia (Noblesville, Ind.) and Thomas Finchum (Indianapolis, Ind.), who won a World Series bronze in men’s 10-meter synchro on Saturday.

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