David Boudia (Noblesville, Ind./West Lafayette, Ind.) finished fifth in the men’s 10-meter semifinals Saturday at the FINA World Championships to qualify for Sunday’s finals and earn Team USA a quota spot for the 2016 Olympic Games. David Dinsmore (New Albany, Ohio/Coral Gables, Fla.) also competed on 10-meter, finishing 15th in the semifinals to miss the cut for the finals.
Boudia scored 506.15 in the semifinals, with defending world champion Qiu Bo of China leading the field with 577 points. Earlier in the day, Boudia finished first with 552.80 points in the morning preliminaries.
“It’s a long day. I starting feeling fatigued. My muscles started feeling sore probably in the second round (of semifinals). You try to keep your level of energy up, but it’s difficult when you’re diving from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.,” said Boudia, the silver medalist on 10-meter at the 2011 and 2013 World Championships.
In the prelims, his opening round inward 3 ½ tuck earned 78.40 points, but after that he scored 88 or more points on his other five dives. His armstand went for 102.60 points, and two other dives scored more than 95 points.
In the semifinals, his highest scoring dive was his back 3 ½ pike, which earned 97.20 points. No other dives scored more than 90 points in the semifinals. Three dives scored in the 80s and two scored in the 70s.
“In the finals, I’d like to hit my six dives like I did in prelims. I was extremely solid. It builds my confidence knowing that I didn’t dive that well in semifinals, and I was just four points out of fourth,” Boudia said.
Russia’s Victor Minibaev, who was second in the prelims, was fourth in the semifinals at 510.95. Great Britain’s Tom Daley was third with 524.70, and China’s Yang Jian was second at 539.75.
Dinsmore was 15th with 403.80 points in the semifinals. He was 11th in the preliminaries with 462.75 points, highlighted by 87.45 points on a back 3 ½ tuck and 84.60 points on a back 2 ½ with 2 ½ twists, a new dive for him.
“I didn’t dive as well in the semifinals as I would have liked to, but I had a great prelim. I competed a new dive I just learned. There’s good days and bad days in diving, and unfortunately today was a bad day,” said Dinsmore, who was competing in his first World Championships.
Diving events at the Aquatic Palace in Kazan conclude Sunday. In addition to the men’s 10-meter final, competition includes mixed 3-meter synchro with USA’s Abby Johnston (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Durham, N.C.) and Jordan Windle (Morrisville, N.C./Durham, N.C.). High diving at the Kazanka River venue begins August 3.
Courtesy of USA Diving.