U.S. Diving Scores Pair of Top Eight Finishes in Women’s Three-Meter at FINA Diving World Cup

LONDON, England, February 24. CHRISTINA Loukas (Riverwoods, Ill./The Woodlands, Texas) and Cassidy Krug (Coraopolis, Pa./Stanford, Calif.) placed seventh and eighth, respectively, in the women's 3-meter finals Friday at the FINA Diving World Cup in the London Aquatics Centre.

Loukas scored 327.65 points, and Krug finished with 326.10. China's Wu Minxia won the gold at 368.95, and teammate He Zi scored 365.40 points for silver. Italy's Tania Cagnotto finished third at 345.75.

Loukas, who finished fourth at last year's World Championships, was in 11th place after round one when she scored just 57 points on her inward 2 ' tuck. She bounced back to score 66 or higher on each of her next four dives, including 70.5 points on her reverse 2 ', to climb to seventh in the final standings.

'I didn't start off how I wanted to on my first dive, but I told myself I wasn't going to give up and I stuck with it. I had fun, and it was a good contest,' said Loukas, a 2008 Olympian. 'It's been an amazing experience to get a feel for the Olympic pool, and it's great to motivation for me to work to come back here a second time (for the Games). I love London.'

Krug scored more than 60 points on all five of her dives, with her best marks coming in round one with 73.50 points on an inward 2 ' pike and 66 points on a front 2 ' with a twist in the last round.

'I wasn't happy with every dive, but it was a solid performance. Any experience you can get in a world final is good. It's a great dress rehearsal for the Olympics to be competing in the same pool in the same competition format,' said Krug, who will be trying to make her first Olympic team.

Also on Friday, David Boudia (Noblesville, Ind./West Lafayette, Ind.) placed 12th with 445.25 points in the men's 10-meter preliminaries to advance to Saturday's semifinals. Thomas Finchum (Indianapolis, Ind.) finished 35th with 358.95 points and did not advance.

Saturday's schedule also includes women's synchronized 3-meter, with Abby Johnston (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Durham, N.C.) and Kelci Bryant (Chatham, Ill./Minneapolis, Minn.) looking to earn the U.S. an Olympic berth in that event.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use