Three U.S. divers have advanced to Saturday’s finals at the FINA Grand Prix Gold Coast meet in Australia after their performances Thursday, the opening day of competition. Darian Schmidt (Bloomington, Ind.) and Michael Hixon (Amherst, Mass./Bloomington, Ind.) advanced to the men’s 3-meter final, while Amy Cozad (Indianapolis, Ind./Bloomington, Ind.) qualified for the women’s 10-meter final.
Schmidt and Hixon finished third and fourth, respectively, in the men’s 3-meter preliminaries and then went on to each place second in their respective semifinals. Schmidt scored 435.70 points to finish second behind China’s Huang Bowen (439.35) in semifinal B. Hixon finished second with 406.10 points in semifinal A, which was won by Australia’s Matthew Mitcham at 410.25.
Cozad scored 307.85 points to finish second to China’s Yaying Ding (329.40) in the women’s 10-meter semifinal B to earn her spot in the final. Jessica Parratto (Dover, N.H./Bloomington, Ind.) qualified for the semifinals but did not advance to the finals. She scored 266.60 points for fifth in semifinal B and ninth overall.
The top 12 divers from the preliminaries advance to one of two semifinals. The top three divers from each semifinal qualify for the finals.
The Gold Coast Grand Prix continues through Sunday, November 1. Friday’s competition includes women’s 3-meter preliminaries and semifinals. Deidre Freeman (Grinnell, Iowa/Iowa City, Iowa) and Laura Ryan (Elk River, Minn./Athens, Ga.) will compete for the U.S.
Swimming news courtesy of USA Diving.