32 YEAR WAIT ENDS AS TANDI DELIVERS IN FINAL
Tandi Indergaard become the first British woman to make a
World Championship 3m Final since 1973 when she showed consistency
and strength of nerve to overcome a strong field as well as
the extreme variances of weather.
The Leeds diver went through the preliminaries in 11th place
with a score of 275.55. Team mate Louise Van Hoof threatened
to break into the qualifying 18 but eventually finished in
25th with 226.11 when 248.61 was needed.
Indergaard’s consistency over the semi-final’s
five dives, despite the scorching temperatures at the open-air
Parc Jean-Drapeau, saw her retain her top 12 placing to contest
the final.
She posted a score of 489.27 to step into the history books
before she took on the World’s biggest names in a final
that lived up to the high standards witnessed this week in
Montreal.
In a final dominated by the Chinese, Indergaard was as high
as ninth after the first three rounds.
As dark clouds gathered overhead Indergaard failed to show
the judges enough on her reverse two-and-a-half with pike
and dropped to 11th.
As Indergaard took to the boards for her final dive, a reverse
one-and-a-half somersault, with two-and-a-half twist, the
heavens opened in spectacular fashion but she held her composure
to score her second highest points of the round.
Thunder and lightening forced the remaining divers to take
cover before venturing once more to the boards to complete
the competition.
Indergaard’s performance, a final placing of 11 with
494.67 points, was exactly what coach Adie Hinchlifee was
looking for as she continues to rise through the world rankings.
“Making top 12 in the world, three years out from the
Beijng Olympics is exactly where we wanted to be and Tandi
did a great job, in difficult circumstances, to make it happen
today,” said Hinchliffe
“She’s our first finalist for over 30 years and
she looked like she belonged there. Tandi’s dives were
steady throughout and you need that consistency at this level
of competition.
“There’s more to come, though, and we’ll
being work towards that. She wasn’ t as sharp on some
as she could have been but she competed like a real trooper.
It’s a great place for us to start from.”
Gold went to Guo Jingjing of China with 645.54, team mate
Wu Min Xia took the silver in 619.05 and bronze went to Italian
Tania Cognotto with 591.27.
Ben Swain competed off the 1m board on Thursday and finished
the preliminaries in 31st place with a score of 284.13.
Britain’s Olympic silver medallists will attack the
10m individual competition on Saturday before they team up
for the Synchronised Platform on Sunday. They will be aiming
to deliver Britain’s first World Championship medal.
The British Diving World Championship squad comprises:
Claire Blencowe City of Sheffield
Tonia Couch Plymouth Diving
Brooke Graddon Plymouth Diving
Tandi Indergaard City of Leeds
Hayley Sage Beaumont Diving Academy
Louise Van Hoof Luton Kingfishers
Tony Ally City of Sheffield
Mark Shipman City of Sheffield
Ben Swain City of Sheffield
Leon Taylor City of Sheffield
Peter Waterfield Southampton
The 11th FINA World Championships will take place in Montreal,
Canada between 17th and 31st July 2005. The championships
incorporate swimming, diving, open water swimming, synchronised
swimming and water polo.
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