Canadians knocked out in semifinals at diving Grand Prix

By: THE CANADIAN PRESS

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Meaghan Benfeito of Montreal, Reuben Ross of Regina and Riley McCormick of Victoria were all eliminated in the semifinals Friday at the fifth stop on the FINA Grand Prix diving circuit.

On women's three-metre, Yulia Pakalina of Russia posted the best score in the first of two semifinals followed by Allison Brennan of the U.S., and Anna Lindberg of Sweden. The final is on Sunday.

Benfeito missed the cut for the final by only 0.55 points, placing fourth in her semi and finishing seventh overall. The top three in each of the two semis advance.

"I saw the scores before my last dive so I knew it was very close," said Benfeito, sixth in the preliminaries. "On that last dive I didn't place my hands correctly and that potentially cost me. Still I'm very proud of performance. The best part of my diving today were the takeoffs."

Melanie Rinaldi of Montreal was 24th in the preliminaries and did not advance.

On men's 10-metre tower, McCormick and Ross were fifth in their respective semis for ninth and 11th overall. David Boudia of the U.S., posted the best score in the semis followed by Matthew Mitcham of Australia and Thomas Finchum of the U.S. The final is also on Sunday.

McCormick was competing for the last time before next month's Olympic trials in Victoria and will head in on a positive note.

"This is the most pleased I've been with my diving in a long time," said McCormick, 16, a two-time world championship team member.

"This was one of the toughest meets I've been to since the world championships. Just to get into the semis was difficult and I had to do a very good performance. I didn't miss anything. I'm really excited about it."

Competition continues Saturday featuring Roseline Filion of Laval, Que., in the women's tower final and Filion and Benfeito in the women's 10-metre synchro final.