USA Wins Four Medals in Individual Olympic Events in Madrid

MADRID – Team USA divers won four medals in individual Olympic events – one in each event – on Friday and Saturday at the Madrid International Diving Meet, with the synchronized events yet to come on Sunday. 

Carson Tyler won gold in men's 10-meter, Sophie Verzyl took silver in women's 3-meter, Collier Dyer won the men's 3-meter silver and Bayleigh Cranford picked up the women's 10-meter bronze. 

All four will compete in synchronized events on Sunday.  

Tyler scored 421.80 points for the 10-meter gold after rallying from a missed first-round dive. After scoring just 46.80 points on his armstand double back somersault with 2 1/2 twists, Tyler was in 10th place.   

"That was not my best start for sure, but I was trying to stay neutral. I knew if I got upset or something like that, then I would probably get distracted on other dives. So I just stuck to my plan, stayed neutral and tried as hard as I could on the other dives," Tyler said. 

 After round three, he had moved up to sixth place. Tyler then earned 81.60 points on a reverse 3 1/2 tuck in round four that pushed him to second place and followed with 79.20 points on a back 3 1/2 tuck to take the lead after round five.  

"The reverse 3 1/2 was a good dive in my list to build momentum, and I was really happy with the back 3 1/2. That one was a little weaker in the (preliminary and semifinal), so to be able to hit that in the final was really cool," Tyler said. 

Drew Bennett also competed in the 10-meter final and finished eighth with 349.25 points. Spain's Jorge Rodriguez took silver at 404.20, edging bronze medalist Maciej Bujak of Poland by .05 points.  

Verzyl came through with 268.35 points for silver in the 3-meter final. Germany's Lena Hentschel scored 291.45 for gold, with bronze going to Switzerland's Michelle Heimberg at 262.70.  

"I was steady throughout the day. I took a little break after the World Cup Super Final. Proving to myself that I can have just a week and a half of practice and still come and do well at a meet is exciting. I think that's what I'm most proud of – coming off a long break and still doing well,” Verzyl said. 

Anna Kwong advanced to the 3-meter semifinal and finished 17th with 200.25 points. All five U.S. women finished in the top 10 in the preliminaries, but only two divers per country could advance. The semifinal spots went to Verzyl and Kwong, who finished third and fourth in the prelim. Molly Gray finished sixth (248.10), Kyndal Knight was seventh (247.75) and Margo O’Meara was eighth (241.70). 

Dyer scored 389.85 points to pick up the men's 3-meter silver, edging bronze medalist Alexis Jandard of France by a half a point. Germany's Moritz Wesemann won gold with 422.85.  Dyer was consistent throughout the final, scoring between 61 and 71 points on all six dives. Before advancing to the final, Dyer had to make his way out of a 38-diver prelim and get through the semifinals in the same day. He finished eighth in the preliminary and was fourth in the semifinal. 

“When it’s that type of day when you potentially have three lists, I like to go into it kind of thinking of it as a marathon, not a sprint. You can't use up all your gas. I think staying present is really important. You can't think about how you maybe have two lists to go, or you're not even halfway done. You just kind of have to stay in the round you're on in the meet,” Dyer said. "I was really happy I was able to come in and just, you know, try and do the best dives that I could. I'm excited to keep working and going forward.” 

Jack Ryan scored 303.85 to finish 17th in the 3-meter semifinal. Max Flory finished 29th with 287.95 points in the preliminary, and Josh Sollenberger scored 225.20 for 37th. 

Cranford scored 302.90 points, highlighted by a 75.90-point back 3 ½ tuck, in the women's 10-meter contest to finish third behind Spain's Valeria Antolina (322.30) and Ana Carvajal (319.75).  

"My three lists were very consistent. There wasn’t anything that was a super big miss in any of them. I just wanted to do three solid lists, and I think I did that,” Cranford said.  

 USA's Ella Roselli also advanced to the women's 10-meter final and finished seventh with 255.60 points. Sophie McAfee scored 262.40 for fifth in the prelim – just 2.30 points behind Roselli – but  could not advance. 

Competition at the Madrid International Diving Meet wraps up Sunday with eight U.S. synchro teams set to compete. Men's and women's 1-meter events will also be held on Sunday.