Jennifer Abel, Pamela Ware win gold, silver in diving
Canada's Pan Am diving medal count rises to 5
Jennifer Abel added to Canada's already strong showing in the pool with a gold medal in the women's 3-metre springboard diving final Sunday evening, while teammate Pamela Ware earned the silver.
Mexico's Dolores Hernandez took the bronze.
"I'm really happy about my performance tonight," said Abel. "Practice before the final wasn't as great as this morning so I was a little bit nervous, but I was able to calm down and talk to myself, talk to my coach too so they were able to bring me back to earth."
The 23-year-old Abel, from Laval, Que., who entered the final in first place, led the round from wire to wire, never really wavering and finishing with a score of 384.70.\
"It's amazing. I've never seen her dive that well," Ware said of Abel. "She did so good and I'm so proud. "This was her day. She was amazing."
GOLD + SILVER 3m Springboard <a href="https://twitter.com/JennAbel91">@JennAbel91</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/PamelaWare1">@PamelaWare1</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FABIV?src=hash">#FABIV</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/DivingPlongeon">@DivingPlongeon</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/cbcsports">@cbcsports</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TO2015">@TO2015</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TeamCanada">@TeamCanada</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbcpanam?src=hash">#cbcpanam</a> <a href="http://t.co/5hQy97wu78">pic.twitter.com/5hQy97wu78</a>
—@SportsWkndScottAbel's win automatically qualifies her for the springboard competition at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Ware, from Montreal, finished with a score of 326.00 while Hernandez earned 323.00.
Canada and Mexico are neck-and-neck in the race for the most diving medals, Canada has five, while Mexico has six. Colombia is the only country with a medal in diving.
Ware and Abel joined Roseline Filion and Meaghan Benfeito as women's divers who have won medals for Canada. Filion took silver in the women's 10m platform competition Saturday, while Benfeito earned the bronze.
Abel, who won bronze at the 2012 Olympics in London in three-metre synchro with Emilie Heymans, credited Toronto artist Drake for getting her prepared for Sunday's competition.
"I was listening to a lot of Drake's music today just to put that switch up that you want to be in the beast mode," she said "I always say that word, 'beast mode' because there's no looking backwards. You want to go forward. The 'Headlines' song. I really like it and obviously 'Started from the Bottom'."
"On my way from the village to (the venue) I was listening to Drake."
Abel's latest Pan Am medal adds to an already strong resumé which includes a 2011 Pan Am silver medal, five Commonwealth Games medals, and the bronze in London.
- RESULTS: Women's springboard final
- VIDEO: Ware's first dive
- VIDEO: Ware wins silver
- VIDEO: Abel's second dive
- VIDEO: Abel's third dive
With files from The Canadian Press
No medals for Canada in men's platform
Meanwhile, on the men's side, Canadians Vincent Riendeau and Maxim Bouchard finished out of the medals, finishing 5th and 7th, respectively.
Mexico's Ivan Garcia and Jonathan Ruvalcaba won gold and bronze, respectively, while Colombia's Victor Ortega won the silver.
With Files from the Canadian Press