USA Diving athletes earned three medals on the first day of the FINA Grand Prix in Madrid, Spain. David Dinsmore won gold in men’s 10-meter platform competition, while Kassidy Cook and Sarah Bacon took gold and silver in the women’s 3-meter springboard final, marking a strong start to the 2020 season.
Cook, Bacon, Samantha Pickens and Lauren Reedy all placed in the top 12 during the women’s 3-meter preliminaries, with Cook and Bacon advancing to the semifinals and subsequently finals.
Cook, who used this event as her debut back onto the international stage after competing solely domestically since the 2016 Olympic Games, claimed gold with her top dive earning a score of 66 with a total score of 308.10. Bacon claimed silver with her best dive scoring a 65.1 and a total score of 297.60. Cook and Bacon will partner to compete in the women’s 3-meter synchronized diving event on Sunday.
“I’m really pleased how my first [international] competition since the 2016 Olympics went,” said Cook. “It was really fun to be out there with my synchro partner Sarah and to see us both end up at the top of the podium in one and two. I went into the day wanting to have fun and take it light because I knew that this competition was a little bit lower pressure than the World Cup coming up, and I honestly think I’ve put together some of my best lists in a while. It was really refreshing to see all of the hard work that I have been putting in during the last couple of months come to fruition."
In the men’s 10-meter platform, Dinsmore claimed gold with 436.95 points, including 86.4 on a twister in his final dive of the competition.
“I’m extremely happy with how today ended up. Lots of diving, lots of ups and downs but all in all, there were a lot of good things to take out of this individual event,” said Dinsmore, “This is my first international win and I couldn’t be more stoked.”
Dinsmore will also compete in the men’s 10-meter synchronized diving event with partner Brandon Loschiavo on Sunday.
“We are extremely proud of our team today,” said Leslie Hasselbach Adams, High Performance Manager for USA Diving, “This is just the beginning of our road to success as we gear up for Tokyo 2020. All of our athletes represented Team USA with pride today and I am looking forward to seeing how our team performs throughout the rest of the weekend.
The FINA Grand Prix will continue through the Sunday with the women’s 10-meter, men’s 3-meter and synchronized events.
For the full competition schedule and live scoring, visit: https://rfen.es/es/section/seccion-41.
