WA Divers Compete at World Cup in China
Western Australian athletes Maddison Keeney and Teju Williamson have competed at the 2018 Diving World Cup in China.
It continues a busy representative streak for the pair, who both featured for Australia at April’s Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
Keeney skipped competition at the recent Australian titles as she managed her rehab back to competition fitness following a foot complaint.
The Olympic medallist demonstrated that she is closing in on her best form and in China, she took fourth place in the final of the women’s 3m springboard.
Up against the world’s best, Keeney registered a thoroughly competitive total of 342.85 which was only narrowly shy of the podium.
World Cup victory went to home nation star Tingmao Shi ahead of compatriot Han Wang, whilst the bronze medal was taken by Canada’s Pamela Ware.
Keeney was solid across her opening dives but had the opportunity to claw back ground with her closing dive, a high difficulty forward two and half summersault, double twist.
Only three athletes in the final attempted the 3.4 difficulty dive, with Keeney fetching the highest return on execution, which took her from sixth position into fourth.
Williamson contested the 10m platform and 10m synchro events in China as she consolidates upon what has been a breakthrough year for the teenager.
She made the semi-final stage of the individual competition, scoring 231.10. Williamson was in contention for the final through three rounds, but a low score on her fourth effort saw her slip from calculations.
She and Emily Meaney combined (275.16) to reach the final of the synchro competition after recording the sixth highest prelim total.
They couldn’t repeat the feat in the final however, slipping to 11th place with an aggregate score of 253.26.