July 17, 2019
Oliver Dingley bowed out at the semi-final stage of the 3m Springboard at the World Diving Championships in Gwangju, South Korea today.
An impressive performance from Dingley in a gruelling 4-hour preliminary round this morning saw him advance to the semi-final in 10th place with 417.95 points. High scores of 82.35 and 83.60 in his most difficult dives ensured a place in the last 18.
The preliminary round took its toll though, and a back injury flared up leaving no time for recovery ahead of the semi-final, less than 2 hours later. The injury prevented Dingley from being at his best with a lower score of 358.95 and an 18th place finish, outside of the top 12 required to secure a place in the Final and a place for Ireland at the 2020 Olympic Games.
Speaking after the semi-final Dingley commented ‘I’ve got to be grateful, especially after a prolonged period of time off at the start of the season and to come back and get a performance like that in a World prelim and to get through today has been positive. I’m carrying a bit of an injury so it’s a bit hard to breath, my backs kept going and it’s right in my ribs, so it was good to get through that’.
The National Centre Dublin diver is looking on the positives of this morning’s performance ‘There’s so many positives to take, I’m dead chuffed, some of the dives were fantastic this morning, my reverse and front, they’ve been plaguing me all year so to get those in and not to do them good but to do them excellently, you can only take positives from that and build that stamina up for next year as well.’
Dingley’s next and final opportunity for Olympic qualification will come in April next year at the FINA Diving World Cup in Tokyo. The 26-year-old be back in action at these World Championships on Saturday as he and Clare Cryan combine for the 3M Springboard Mixed Synchro.
Cryan returns to action tomorrow for her main event, the 3M Springboard. The National Centre Dublin diver will be in confident form after progressing to the 1M Springboard Final on Friday last, where she finished in 11th place.
FINA World Diving & Swimming Championships, 12th – 28th July 2019, Gwangju, South Korea
Result Wednesday 17th July
| Men 3M Springboard | Oliver Dingley | P 417.95 | SF 358.95 |
Schedule Thursday 18th July
| Women 3M Springboard Preliminary | Clare Cryan | 2am (Ireland) |
