BARCELONA, Spain – Tori Lamp (Knoxville, Tenn.) finished 10th in the women’s 10-meter finals Thursday, andKristian Ipsen (Clayton, Calif.) came from behind to place 10th in the men’s 3-meter semifinals to earn a spot in Friday’s final at the FINA World Championships.
Lamp scored 301.20 points in her first World Championships final, highlighted by 82.80 points on her armstand back double somersault with 2 ½ twists in the first round. With a 3.6 degree of difficulty, it was the most difficult dive performed by any woman in the contest.
“I was really pleased with how that dive went for me. It’s honestly not that hard for me to do, but I haven’t been consistent with it,” Lamp said.
Lamp made some mistakes on her middle three dives, scoring 55.50 points or less in the second through fourth rounds before closing out her list with 72 points on her back 2 ½ with 1 ½ twists.
“I competed my front 3 ½ pike for the first time in three years, and my inward and back dives were a little off. I made some mistakes and know I have a lot to work on, but I’m still happy with how I did,” Lamp said.
China’s Si Yajie captured the gold with 392.15 points, while her teammate and Olympic champion Chen Ruolin was second at 388.70. Ukraine’s Iuliia Prokopchuk scored 358.40 points for the bronze.
Ipsen finished with 427.55 points for 10th in the 3-meter semifinals, recovering from a missed third-round dive to qualify for the finals. Ipsen scored just 37.40 points on his inward 3 ½ tuck and found himself in 17th place at the halfway point of the contest.
He responded with 81.60 points on his front 2 ½ with 2 twists in the next round, bumping him up to 15th place. Then in round five, he scored 77 points on a reverse 3 ½ tuck that moved him into 13th place – one spot shy of qualifying for the finals – with one round to go. He closed out his list with 86.70 points on a reverse 1 ½ with 3 ½ twists to jump to 10th in the final standings.
“I didn’t know where I was (heading into the last round), but I told myself I wanted to end with a good dive regardless. I thought back to Olympic Trials when I needed to do a really good dive and told myself I’ve done this dive a million times,” Ipsen said. “In diving you always have to think you have a chance to come back, but I knew it was going to be tough. I knew if I drilled those last three dives, I’d have a chance, and I did it. I’m really happy how it turned out.”
In addition to the men’s 3-meter final, Friday’s competition will also feature the women’s 3-meter preliminaries and semifinals. Deidre Freeman (Grinnell, Iowa) and Maren Taylor (Arlington, Va.) will compete for the United States
