Tyler Downs
Schnell Sixth in 10-Meter Final, USA Qualifies Two to Men's 3-Meter Final at World Championships
Delaney Schnell (Tucson, Ariz./University of Arizona) finished sixth in the women’s 10-meter final, while Andrew Capobianco (Holly Springs, N.C./Johansen Diving Academy) and Tyler Downs (Ballwin, Mo./Ripfest) qualified for the men’s 3-meter final as the World Aquatics Championships continued Wednesday in Fukuoka, Japan.
Capobianco placed ninth and Downs finished 10th in Wednesday’s 3-meter semifinal to qualify for Thursday’s final. The 12 finalists secure quota spots for their countries to compete in the Olympic Games in Paris next summer.
Schnell scored 313.95 points to finish sixth in the 10-meter final. She opened her list with 76.80 points on her back 2 ½ somersaults with 1 ½ twists and added 68.80 points on her armstand double back somersault with 1 ½ twists for her two highest-scoring dives in the final
China dominated the women’s 10-meter field as Chen Yuxi scored 457.85 points for gold and Quan Hongchan took silver at 445.60. Canada’s Caeli McKay won bronze with 340.25 points.
Capobianco scored 427.35 points in the men’s 3-meter semifinal, highlighted by two strong final dives that helped earn his spot in the final. In 16th place after four rounds, Capobianco jumped to 10th with 81.90 points on his front 2 ½ somersaults with three twists. He then closed out his list with 87.40 points on a front 4 ½ somersaults tuck to move up one more spot to ninth. He put together a similar comeback in the preliminaries, when he was 33rd after four rounds. His last two dives then bumped him up to 26th and 17th to narrowly make the 18-diver semifinal.
Downs finished with 415.30 points on his semifinal list. He scored 74.80 points on his final dive, a front 2 ½ somersaults with two twists, and he picked up 72 points on his back 2 ½ somersaults pike. He scored between 63 and 69.75 points on each of his other four dives. Downs qualified for the semifinal after finishing eighth in the preliminaries.
Diving events at the World Aquatics Championships continue through July 22. Thursday’s competition features women’s 3-meter preliminaries and semifinals, followed by the men’s 3-meter final. Sarah Bacon (Indianapolis, Ind./Minnesota Diving) and Hailey Hernandez (Southlake, Texas/University of Texas) will represent the United States in the 3-meter event. The preliminaries and semifinals will be available for streaming on the World Aquatics Recast channel, and the finals will be shown live on Peacock.