Abel, Citrini-Beaulieu take top spot in 3-metre synchro at winter nationals
Duo competes for 1st time in 6 months as part of worlds qualifying process
Jennifer Abel and Melissa Citrini-Beaulieu are one step closer to returning to the Olympic Games.
Abel and Citrini-Beaulieu took top spot in women's three-metre synchro with 301.89 points on Friday at the Canadian diving winter senior nationals.
"We're proud of our performance but there is still a lot to improve," said Abel, a three-time Olympian who won bronze in 2012. "One of the big areas we worked on in practice is the quality of our entries. There is also the presentation side where we want to make the dives look effortless."
Abel and Citrini-Beaulieu paired up after the 2016 Olympic Games and this was their first competition in six months. Montreal's Mia Vallee and Olivia Chamandy were second (286.08).
The winter nationals are part of the qualifying process for the FINA World Championships this summer which in turn are an Olympic qualifying event.
Watch the women's 3m event:
Philippe Gagne and Francois Imbeau-Dulac began their push towards the 2020 Olympic Games with victories Friday in the men's three-metre synchro with 415.32 points. World junior champions Victor Povzner of Maple, Ont., and Henry McKay of Ottawa were placed second (368.07).
"It's a nice way to start a new season," said Gagne. "We haven't made any changes to our list, we just want to keep improving the dives we have."
Watch the men's 10m event:
The pair have been together for four seasons and placed seventh at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Nathan Zsombo-Murray and Vincent Riendeau earned 402.00 points in their first competition together for top sot in the men's 10-metre synchro, while Meaghan Benfeito and Caeli McKay scored 309.30 to win the women's competition.
"I'm very excited about this season," said Benfeito, a three-time Olympic bronze medallist including two with former partner Roseline Filion on 10m synchro. "We've made some changes and it was fun to put that to the test tonight."
Competition continues until Sunday.