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Summer Universiade Diving: Gosselin-Paradis captures platform bronze

Team Canada Communications Staff

Photo Credit to Mathieu Belanger

Laurent Gosselin-Paradis captured his second bronze medal of the 2019 Summer Universiade Monday, putting up a strong performance in the men’s 10-metre platform event.

Schedule & Results 

FISU.TV (Semifinals and finals only) 

Gosselin-Paradis, 18, was the youngest competitor in the field and scored 399.10 after six dives. Mexico’s Jose DIeg Balleza Isaias won gold, with Bowen Huang of China taking silver.

It’s the first individual international medal for Montreal’s Gosselin-Paradis, who picked up Canada’s first medal of the Universiade in the synchronized platform event with teammate Ethan Pitman Friday. Pitman also qualified for the individual final, finishing 12th.

“I just wanted to give it all and do my best, and just focus on one dive at a time,” said the Cégep Andrée Grasset student. “I wasn’t really looking at the scoreboard, so I wasn’t really even aware of my placing, but I’m happy that I was able to put on a good show and come away with the bronze medal.”

Laurent_Gosselin_Paradis_(FISU).jpg (306 KB)

He averaged in the high 60s for his first four dives and sat in second place, but dropped to fourth after a miss on the fifth dive. On his sixth, a back dive with 2.5 somersaults and 1.5 twists in a pike position, he scored 72.0 – enough to leap into the third position.

“We had a lot of fourth-place (finishes) this week, and he was fourth before the last dive, and he was just (thinking) ‘I’m going to give it everything and see what the outcome is,’” said Canadian coach Stéphane Lapointe. “I’m super proud that he came back after the fifth round which was a little more average. He came back strong on the sixth dive.

“It’s a new step for Laurent in his diving career, and this week he qualified for our Olympic process. He needs to build a little stronger list of dives – but he’s brand-new, this is his first year competing on the international level, so having a medal already is fantastic.”

A former gymnast, Gosselin-Paradis competed in diving for the first time in 2016 and heads home from an international multisport event with a pair of medals.

“It’s really exciting for me. It’s an international competition, it’s my first individual medal internationally, and it’s definitely going to motivate me to keep going for the next few years.”

The diving competition’s final medals were up for grabs in the mixed team event. Canada was represented by Pitman and Elaena Dick, who finished seventh in the 11-team event.

Results

Men 10 m platform (final)

Mixed team event (final)

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