MONTREAL — Jennifer Abel and Francois Imbeau-Dulac won the gold medal in the mixed three-metre synchro springboard on Sunday to close out the FINA Diving World Series event in Montreal.
Abel and Imbeau-Dulac were triumphant with 325.20 points, well in front of Britain’s Grace Reid and Tom Daley, who earned 300.84 points. Germany’s Tina Punzel and Lou Massenberg were third with 300.15 points.
“The entire weekend was absolutely great, and finishing with a gold medal is just the cherry on the sundae,” said Imbeau-Dulac, of Saint-Lazare, Que.
After the two initial compulsory dives, the Canadians really hit their stride.
“We had a shaky start,” said Imbeau-Dulac, “After that we crushed our optionals and managed to get 25 points ahead, which is a massive difference.”
The Canadians jumped into the top spot with their second-to-last dive, and hammered it home with an excellent finish.
It is Abel and Imbeau-Dulac’s first gold of this Diving World Series campaign after a fifth-place finish in Fuji, Japan, and a bronze medal from Beijing, both back in March.
Earlier in the evening, Abel, of Laval, Que., took the bronze in the women’s three-metre springboard, for her second medal in that event of the Diving World Series season.
She scored 364.80 points, ahead of her fourth-place teammate, Pamela Ware of Montreal, who scored 351.75 points in the final.
China’s Tingmao Shi won the women’s springboard with 381.95 points, followed by her teammate, Han Wang, who registered 376.10 points.
In the men’s 10-metre platform, Olympian Vincent Riendeau finished fifth in the final with 426.25 points.
China’s Bo Qiu won with 568.15 points.