Gary Hunt of Great Britain competes in the Men’s 27m High Diving final of the FINA Swimming World Championships 2015 at Kazanska River in Kazan, Russia
Gary Hunt of Britain swept to victory in the final of the high diving at the world championships yesterday. Hunt, the silver medalist two years ago, held on to his lead from Monday’s first three rounds to take the gold medal with a total score of 629.30 points.
Going into the last round with a 33-point lead, Hunt was desperate to avoid a repeat of the 2013 worlds, where he blew a 38-point advantage to lose by less than a point.
“That stuck with me. I had to live with that for two years,” he said. “I just told myself, ‘Don’t do it again.’”
Jonathan Paredes of Mexico, who won bronze in 2013, was second on 596.45, while Artyom Silchenko of Russia pleased the home crowd on the banks of the Kazanka River, winning the bronze with 593.45.
Hunt’s huge lead left his rivals feeling they were in a separate competition, Paredes said.
“This medal means a lot to me,” he said. “Today, we were not fighting for gold, we were fighting for the silver.”
U.S. diver David Colturi was in silver-medal position after the first three rounds, but slipped to fourth. Attempting the most difficult dive of any of the 12 finalists in the last round, he landed awkwardly and finished seven points behind Silchenko.
Defending champion Orlando Duque of Colombia was 11th after Monday’s first three rounds, but finished sixth with the highest score of the final round, a 151.20-point dive. AP
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