PARIS, France –
Canadian diver Caeli McKay will be competing in the women’s 10-metre platform final at the Paris Olympics.
McKay, of Calgary, finished seventh out of 18 in the semifinal on Monday after scoring a total of 308.85 over five dives.
China’s Quan Hongchan and Chen Yuxi topped the scoreboard, with 421.05 and 403.05 respectively, with Britain’s Andrea Spendolini Sirieix coming in third with 367.00.
The top 12 advanced to Tuesday’s final. The scores from the semifinal do not carry over but determine the diving order, which will be the reverse of the semifinal ranking.
“The job’s done for today. The job’s not done for the whole event. I’m really happy I made the finals. It was a very up-and-down day,” said McKay, assessing her performance. “I had some good stuff. I had some not-so-great stuff. Overall, I was relatively consistent, which I was really happy with. I have a lot of stuff I can improve on, so I’m quite relieved with that.”
Heading into the finals, the 25-year-old McKay frames the competition as China versus everyone else, with everyone else chasing bronze.
“I think it’s one of the only events in diving right now that is really not sanely possible to say we would win a silver or gold. The Chinese team is just dominating. These girls are amazing. They’re very, very consistent and they don’t miss,” she said.
“It is a huge fight for a bronze medal and it’s anyone’s. That excites me. It keeps me hungry. That makes this event one of the most exciting ones in the diving field.”
Ottawa’s Kate Miller was eliminated in the preliminary round earlier on Monday, coming in 20th — two spots below the cutoff — with a score of 266.30.
Earlier this week, McKay and Miller fell just short of the podium with a fourth-place finish in women’s 10-metre synchronized diving.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 5, 2024.