DIVERS SIGN OFF FROM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Britain's divers signed off from their World Championship
campaign with a solid performance from the women's 3m synchro
pairing.
Tandi Gerrard (City of Leeds) and Hayley Sage (City of Sheffield)
teamed up for their second successive World Championships,
finishing eighth in what was a strong field that failed to
feature the Canadian Olympic bronze medallists Blythe Hartley
and Emilie Heymans in the final.
With little to separate the final 12 pairings, the British
athletes were pleased with their final position.
"We're really happy with our performance," said
Gerrard. "The competition was of a very high standard
and everyone was being pushed all the way. It's a new P.B.
for us so we're pleased."
"The standard of diving has risen since the last World
Championships. The Canadian pairing went out in the preliminary
round so that just proves how hard the competition has been
this year."
Gerrard and Sage finished with a total 294.36 points. Only
60 points separated the top eight, with gold going to the
Chinese divers Minxia Wu and Jingjing Guo with 355.80 points,
giving the 2008 Olympic host nation their eighth gold medal
of the Championships.
The German pair of Ditte Kotzian and Heike Fischer took silver
with 318.45 with bronze going to Briony Cole and Sharleen
Stratton of Australia with 313.14 points.
The Brits were fully prepared for the competition, and they
feel that this was reflected in their performance.
"We went into the competition feeling as ready as possible,"
said Sage." This is a major international meet and we
are really happy with the way things went and it is a fantastic
way to end the championships."
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