USA wins two bronze at World Junior Championships
by Jared Cruz-Aedo
USA’s medal run continued Tuesday with bronze medals from Lily Witte (Wolverine Diving) in the 16-18 girls’ 3-meter event and Max Fowler (Montgomery Dive Club) in the 16-18 boys’ 1-meter contest at the FINA World Junior Diving Championships in Montreal.
It was a hard-fought competition for the top three places in the girls' 3-meter final, and Witte was able to secure the third-place spot with 414.00 points, including 58.80 on her back 2 ½ tuck. Avery Worobel (The Indiana International School of Diving) also competed in the 3-meter final and placed fifth with a total score of 400.20. Worobel’s strongest dive came in the second round of the final when she scored 58.80 points on her reverse 2½ somersaults tuck. Canada’s Sonya Palkhivala and Katelyn Fung took gold and silver.
Fowler finished the 1-meter contest with 451.15 points for bronze. He moved into the third-place position after his reverse 1½ somersaults 2½ twists scored 66.00 points in the third round of the final. Max Miller (Woodlands Diving Academy) also advanced to the final but missed his second round dive and was unable to recover. He placed 11th with 379.25 points. Miller’s strongest dive came in the first round when his inward 1½ somersaults pike scored 52.80 points. Italy's Matteo Santoro took gold, and Ireland's Jake Passmore won silver.
The U.S. has now won four medals at the World Junior Championships, with a gold in the mixed team event to go along with three individual bronze medals through three days of competition.
Wednesday’s competition will feature the U.S. in two synchronized events as well as two 14-15 individual events, with Anna Lemkin and Molly Gray competing in the girls’ 3-meter and Ivor Brown and Nathaniel Grannis diving in the boys’ 1-meter. Witte and Ellie Joyce will dive in the girls’ synchronized 3-meter and Joshua Hedberg and Tyler Wills will compete in the boys’ synchronized platform. All competitions will be streamed on FINA’s YouTube Channel. To view the full event schedule, click here.
(Note: This story has been updated to correct Lily Witte's scores. The scores were incorrect in an earlier version.)