Havana, February 26 (RHC) – Cuban Anisley Garcia finished 18th in the three-meter springboard qualifying round at the start of the Diving World Cup, which is being held in the Canadian city of Montreal.
A final score of 270.15 points earned her eighteenth place out of 27 competitors, and although this isn’t her strongest event, she has more than enough talent to deliver performances that would place her among the elite, as she did in the previous edition of the tournament.
The two-time Olympic semifinalist performed a springboard program without significant differences between dives, but for a more outstanding result, she would have needed scores above 7.5 points.
Her scores ranged between six and 6.5 points, which is insufficient to qualify for medal contention in any top-level competition.
She particularly underperformed on the forward three-and-a-half somersault, the most difficult dive (3.1), which the judges rated most favorably.
China’s dominance was no surprise, led by the experienced Yiwen Chen, who scored 363.90 points. She was followed by her teammates Jia Chen (359.35), the reigning World Cup and World Championship champion from Singapore 2025, and Sha Ling (342.25).
Australian Maddison Keeny (329.05) had the closest performance to the Asian athletes, finishing fourth, while Mexican Arantxa Vázquez also shone in the pool at the northern facility, securing fifth place with 301.95 points.
This Friday, attention will be even closer, as Anisley will compete in the platform preliminaries, and shortly after, Frank Abel Rosales will compete in the three-meter springboard, both aiming to reach the finals.
So far, 20 women and 29 men are scheduled to compete in the event, including Chinese world champion Jiuyuan Zheng and Mexican Osmar Olvera, gold medalist at the 2024 World Championships.
