Canadian pair scores gold in 3m synchro at Grand Prix event

The Canadian pair of Mia Vallee and Olivia Chamandy won gold in the three-metre sychro final at the FINA Grand Prix in Madrid on Saturday.

Vallee and Chamandy earned a score of 267.78 at the fourth stop of the season. Inge Jansen and Daphne Wils of the Netherlands were second at 267.00, while Villo Kormos and Flora Fazekas-Gondos of Hungary were third at 231.12.

"We didn't expect to win because the other teams were older than us," said Chamandy. "It's not our best score but we were consistent and all the dives were good."

Canadian coach Aaron Dziver was impressed with the gold-medal performance.

"The synchronization and quality of their dives was excellent," said Dziver.

"Even though the difficulty of their list was a bit lower than the Dutch their execution was superior and that allowed them to get the gold." 

Meanwhile, François Imbeau-Dulac earned his first career Grand Prix medal, taking silver in men's 3m.

"My final score wasn't wonderful but [I] overcame my emotions and stress," said Imbeau-Dulac. ''That in itself is a victory for me."

Giovanni Tocci of Italy staved off a big challenge from Imbeau-Dulac, totalling 419.55.

Imbeau-Dulac nearly completed a big comeback but settled for second at 417.55. Nicolas Garcia Boissier of Spain was third at 375.90.

"François struggled in the semis but on his last two dives he switched the focus to being more confident and free," said Dziver.

"He took that lesson and applied it to the final where he did five great dives out of six." 

Chamandy and Celina Toth also qualified for Sunday's 10m tower final. Toth was third in her semifinal heat while Chamandy was second. The top-three in each of the two semis advanced.

Competition ends Sunday.