Synchro Success in Spain

 MADRID — Synchro was a success for Team USA in Spain. 

The U.S. won a medal in all four Olympic synchronized diving events at the Madrid International Diving Meet on Sunday. It was the first time this year that the U.S. medaled in every synchro event at an international competition. 

Kyndal Knight and Krysta Palmer won gold in women's synchronized 3-meter. The 10-meter synchro teams of Bayleigh Cranford and Ella Roselli and Josh Hedberg and Carson Tyler both won silver, and Jack Ryan and Josh Sollenberger came away with bronze in men's 3-meter synchro. 

The focus for the U.S. team in Madrid was synchro. USA Diving prioritized identifying partners and providing an international synchro opportunity for all available members of the national team. In all, the U.S. entered eight teams, including several new pairings, in synchro events in Madrid.  

In addition to the synchro events, Sunday's competition also included 1-meter events, and the U.S. won three medals in that event. Margo O'Meara won gold and Sophie Verzyl took bronze in the women's contest, and Ryan won his second medal of the day with a bronze in the men's 1-meter event. 

Palmer and Knight won gold in women's synchronized 3-meter with 270.90 points. It was Palmer's first international competition in two years and marked the first competition for Knight and Palmer together in synchro since the 2025 USA Diving National Championships. The pair had an opportunity to train together prior to heading to Madrid.  

"We had a great time diving together, and I loved having extra training in Kentucky before this competition. I think that was something that really benefited us coming into this meet. Day by day, we were just trending, so it was really cool," Palmer said. "I think we were pretty consistent. The dives we had were consistent, and I think that really helped us."    

USA's O'Meara and Molly Gray competed synchro together for the first time and finished sixth with 251.10 points. Verzyl and Anna Kwong placed seventh with 246.12 points. Germany's Lena Hentschel and Emily Demel scored 268.77 for silver, with bronze going to Ukraine's Kseniia Bochek and Diana Karnafel at 271.00.  

O'Meara later capped off her day with 245.10 points to edge Switzerland's Michelle Heimberg by four tenths of a point for the 1-meter gold. Verzyl finished third at 239.65 for her second individual medal of the meet. Kwong also competed on 1-meter and finished sixth at 223.30.  

"I felt really good. I honestly love 1-meter. I wasn't expecting to be doing 1-meter here, but I just tried to stay really consistent, one dive at a time. I really enjoy 1-meter. I love the way it feels. I just tried to be really clean, and it worked out,” O’Meara said.  

O’Meara also was pleased with her first time competing synchro with Gray.  

“I think, for the first time, we did well. There's definitely some things that we can clean up, but all in all, it was really consistent. Individually, each of our dives were solid, so I think we were both happy about that. It was a lot of fun being here in Spain. And really, just a great learning opportunity, and I’m really excited to work for what's next," O'Meara said. 

Hedberg and Tyler scored 374.94 points for the men's 10-meter synchro silver behind Germany's Jaden Eikermann Gregorchuk and Luis Avila Sanchez, who took gold at 380.19. 15-year-old Pengxu Lor made his international debut and paired with Drew Bennett for 326.61 points for third place in the duo’s first competition together as a synchro team. Only one team per country could medal. 

Hedberg and Tyler were competing together internationally for the first time since the 2025 World Aquatics Championships, where they won bronze in 10-meter synchro. Their list in Madrid was highlighted by 83.16 points on their final dive, a back 2 1/2 with 2 1/2 twists.  

"It feels good to be competing again, especially on the international stage. It definitely takes some practice getting back to being comfortable on the international stage, but we did a good job. We had a great last dive. That was 80-plus points, so we were happy with that one. Even with a few shaky dives early on, we still finished strong," Hedberg said.  

Ryan and Sollenberger paired up for 363.33 points and a 3-meter synchro bronze in their first competition together. Spain's Juan Pablo Cortes and Max Linan Canela took gold at 379.17, and Germany's Jonathan Schauer and Lou Massenberg were second at 377.55. USA's Max Flory and Collier Dyer finished fifth with 343.41 points.  

Ryan added a second bronze with 330.35 points on 1-meter. Germany’s Moritz Wesemann 373.00 to take the gold, and Norway’s Isak Borslein finished with 334.50 for silver.  

“Synchro was a whole lot of fun. I love doing it with Red (Sollenberger). We were just trying to have a good time and put some dives down that we knew that we could do and match up and have fun doing synchro together,” Ryan said. “And then this afternoon, 1-meter was completely for fun. I haven't trained 1-meter in over a year. NCAA's was the last time I did a full list, I think. So I was just kind of making sure I still had it and throwing those dives around for fun.” 

Cranford and Roselli finished second in women's synchronized 10-meter, scoring 275.76 to take silver behind Germany's Pauline Pfeif and Elena Wassen (298.86). Spain's Ana Carvajal and Valeria Antolino took bronze at 269.04. 

Cranford and Roselli were third with one round to go but moved up to second with 69.12 points on their final dive, a back 2 1/2 with 1 1/2 twists. It was their second medal together this year. 

The U.S. finished the Madrid International Diving Meet with 11 medals, winning at least one medal in every event. Joining Ryan with two medals were Cranford, Tyler and Verzyl. In addition to Sunday's synchro medals, Tyler won gold and Cranford took bronze in their individual 10-meter events earlier in the meet. Verzyl also won an individual 3-meter silver medal to go along with her 1-meter bronze medal. Dyer rounded out the U.S. medalists with a men’s 3-meter silver.