Canadian divers Wiens, Zsombor-Murray advance to Olympic men's 10m semifinal
Canada's Santavy injures knee, doesn't finish men's weightlifting event
Canadian divers Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray have advanced to the semifinal in the men's 10-metre platform event at the Paris Olympics.
Wiens, from Pike Lake, Sask., finished third in Friday's preliminaries with a score of 485.25, while Zsombor-Murray, of Pointe-Claire, Que., secured 10th place with 407.20 points.
China's Cao Yuan had the highest preliminary score at 500.15, followed by Rikuto Tamai of Japan at 497.15.
The top 18 divers advanced to Saturday's semifinal.
Wiens and Zsombor-Murray won bronze together in men's synchronized 10-metre platform diving earlier at the Games.
It was Canada's first-ever medal in the event, and the first Canadian men's diving medal since Alexandre Despatie's silver in the 3m springboard event in Beijing 2008.
Wiens said he needed a mental reset before the individual event.
"Mentally, I just get rid of all the bronze medal stuff that I had in my room. You know, packed it away to bring home, and pretty much reset after two days after that, and came in like it's a new competition. A whole new event," he said.
Sitting in third heading into the semifinal, Wiens said he knows he must remain consistent to land a spot in the final.
"I know I've got the dive quality to get into the final, so I'm just going to try to go in and just stay comfy and do what I did in the prelim," he said.
WATCH | Wiens, Zsombor-Murray pick up Olympic 10m synchro bronze:
China on verge of unprecedented sweep
China is seven for seven in diving gold at the Paris Olympics. Just one to go for an unprecedented sweep of all eight diving golds in the Games.
Chen Yiwen won the women's three-meter springboard on Friday for China's seventh gold medal. Maddison Keeney of Australia took silver, with bronze going to Chang Yani of China.
It was Chen's second gold in Paris after winning earlier in the three-meter synchronized with partner Chang. Both divers were cheered on by a large Chinese crowd waving China's red-and-yellow flag and shouting "jiayou, jiayou" — roughly translated as "let's go" — each time they prepared to dive.
Chen won with 376.00 points from five dives, followed by Keeney (343.10) and Chang (318.75). Chiara Pellacani of Italy was fourth with 309.60.
WATCH | Full replay of women's 3-metre springboard final:
The sweep could happen Saturday in the final diving session of the Olympics with the men's 10-meter platform.
China dominates all phases of diving but none more than the women's three-meter springboard. China has won the event in 10 straight Olympics.
The last time it didn't win was the 1984 Los Angeles Games, which is where China won its first gold medal in diving.
Chen and Chang set off joyous celebrations earlier in the Games after their synchronized gold. Chen carried Chang — many described it as a "bridal carry"— in her arms to celebrate. They are both making their Olympic debut and have a strong friendship.
Including Friday's results, China has won 54 of 71 gold medals in diving since 1984. Since the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the country has won 34 of 39 gold medals in the discipline.
Santavy exits after attempting clean-and-jerk
Weightlifter Boady Santavy of Sarnia, Ont., was unable to finish the men's 89-kilogram competition on Friday, exiting after his second attempt in the clean-and-jerk with a right knee injury.
The 27-year-old could be heard in the back room telling his dad and coach, Dalas, about the injury before the latter encouraged Santavy to make a second attempt one kg heavier at 188.
Santavy was trying to become Canada's first men's Olympic medallist in the sport since Montreal's Jacques Demers's silver from the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
"I'm trying to make myself feel better. It might take a bit but for me, getting here was an absolute battle," Santavy told CBC Sports. "So many things happened, and the biggest was surgery on my elbow in the middle of [Olympic] qualification. I managed to come back after surgery and [post] a big enough total to qualify.
"And I found out I was coming [to Paris] super late, so I haven't had really any time to train. I think strength-wise I had a little more in me, but the pain was too much on the knee."
Santavy's elbow surgery was to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament that is often associated with pitchers in baseball.
Earlier in Friday's event, Santavy had a best lift of 163 kg in the snatch in which he picked up the barbell and lifted it above his head in one singular motion.
Santavy was fourth in the 96 kg class at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, where his total lift of 386 kg was one shy of the silver and bronze medallists.
On Tuesday, he posted a video to his Instagram page of an "easy" 170 kg lift in the clean-and-jerk.
Last year, Santavy started losing weight in preparation to drop down to the 89 kg weight class as the 96 kg event had been removed from the Olympic program for Paris.
Santavy owns the Canadian records in the snatch, clean-and-jerk and total lift in the 89 kg, 96 kg and 102 kg weight classes.
Victorious Bulgarian sets 2 world marks
Karlos Nasar of Bulgaria won gold and broke two world records Friday, just over a year after a hotel sink fell on him and severed his left Achilles tendon.
Nasar was showering the night before an awards ceremony in May 2023 when he reached for shampoo and pressed down, causing the sink to fall out of the wall and onto him. After undergoing emergency surgery and missing six months, he returned in December and set the clean-and-jerk world record that he surpassed in this event.
A Paris native, the 21-year-old lifted 180 kg in the snatch and a world record 224 in the clean-and-jerk in his Olympic debut with a score of 404, also a world mark.
Yeison Lopez of Colombia took silver with a 390 kg total lift and Italy's Antonino Pizzolato picked up bronze (384 kg).
With files from The Associated Press and CBC Sports
