French Diving Open Gives Divers a Feel for the Paris Olympic Aquatic Center

Eight divers represented the United States at the French Diving Open in Paris from May 8-10, and the U.S. came away with two medals and two top-four individual finishes.

The competition served as a test event for the upcoming Olympic Games and gave federations an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the new Olympic Aquatic Center in Paris.

For the U.S., Katrina Young and Nike Agunbiade came away with the silver medal in women’s synchronized 10-meter, while Krysta Palmer and Alison Gibson won the bronze medal in the women’s synchronized 3-meter competition. Young also led the U.S. women individually with a fourth-place showing on 10-meter, while Joshua Hedberg placed fourth place in men’s 10-meter to lead the U.S. men.

Young and Agunbiade finished with 273.48 points for the 10-meter synchro silver, second behind Great Britain’s Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson. Jade Gillet and Emily Hallifax of France were third at 258.48.

Individually, Young finished fourth on 10-meter and Agunbiade was 10^th. Japan’s Arai Matsui scored 333.40 points for gold, while Maycey Vieta scored 316.90 to claim a silver medal for Puerto Rico. Italy’s Sarah Jodoin won bronze at 303.30.

Both Young and Agunbiade, who train at the University of Southern California, liked the new pool.

“It was very comfortable to dive in this venue. I love the platforms. It’s just fun to dive here,” Young said. “Walking into the pool, I could already see that it’s a beautiful, open space, and I love the light coming in the windows. We dive outside, so it’s cool to kind of mirror that with the light coming in. I feel like I’m at home a little bit. It’s a very unique opportunity to be able to get comfortable here before the Olympic Games.”  

Agunbiade echoed those thoughts.

“It’s really amazing to see. They put a lot of thought into the pool, and I really like the towers,” she said. “It's awesome to get a glimpse of the venue.”

In women’s 3-meter synchro, Australia’s Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith won the gold with 292.77 points. The Italian duo of Chiara Pellacani and Elena Bertocchi edged Palmer and Gibson by just .21 points for silver.

“It was really cool to be the first team out there to compete in the Olympic pool. I’m holding on to that special opportunity. I think it was good prep for what’s ahead for both me and Alison. I just tried to enjoy it,” Palmer said. “Staying present was a little bit tough because I think it’s so much excitement and so much anticipation for what’s ahead, but just to have this opportunity has been incredible.”

The U.S. team was in fourth place, 3.60 points behind the team from Cuba, heading into the last round. Gibson and Palmer had the edge in degree of difficulty and came through with 69.36 points on a front 2 ½ somersaults with two twists to move into the bronze medal position.

“It was great to be here together in this incredible environment, and it’s so cool because I competed in the last Olympics and then took two years off. I recently came back and to be able to compete in the Olympic pool with Krysta again is an incredible opportunity and we hope to be back here again for the Olympics in a couple months,” Gibson said.

Gibson also finished sixth with 270.10 points in the individual 3-meter event, while Hailey Hernandez placed eighth with 264.15 points. Keeney picked up her second gold of the meet for Australia, finishing with 337.35 points in the individual contest. China’s Chang Yani won silver at 320.40, and Japan’s Mikami Sayaka took bronze at 302.85.