Team USA wins gold in mixed team event at FINA World Junior Diving Championships

Team USA won the gold medal in the mixed team event Sunday at the start of the 2022 FINA World Junior Diving Championships in Montreal.

Ellie Joyce (Dominion Dive Club), Ivor Brown (Dominion Dive Club), Bayleigh Cranford (Triad Diving Academy) and Joshua Hedberg (The Indiana International School of Diving) teamed up to win the mixed team event gold with 381.70 points. The mixed team event was broken into four rounds, starting with 3-meter individual competition, followed by synchronized 3-meter. After the 3-meter competition, divers dove individually from the platform and then ended the competition with synchronized platform.

Joyce scored 58.50 points on her forward 2½ somersault with one twist pike on 3-meter, and Hedberg scored the same with his inward 2½ somersault pike. In the 3-meter synchronized round, Joyce and Brown performed a forward 3½ somersault tuck for 49.00 points.

Going into the platform rounds, Team USA was in second place, but Cranford’s reverse 2½ somersaults tuck scored 54.60 points and Hedberg's armstand back double somersault with 2½ twists scored 91.80 points to push the U.S. into first place. The U.S. held onto the top spot when Cranford and Hedberg paired up for 69.30 points on their synchronized back 3½ somersaults tuck. Hedberg’s individual platform dive was the highest-scoring dive of the entire mixed team event.  

Germany won the silver medal and the bronze medal went to Great Britain.

A full day of the FINA World Junior Diving Championships starts Monday with Hedberg and Mason Mankey (The Indiana International School of Diving) in the 14-15 boys’ 3-meter springboard event followed by Anna Lemkin (Mission Viejo Nadadores) and Molly Gray (Stanford Diving) in the 14-15 girls’ platform event. All competitions will be streamed on FINA’s YouTube Channel. To view the full event schedule, click here.