The Great Britain team made a strong start to the 2019 FINA World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, with a trio of athletes qualifying for their respective finals.
First to secure her spot was Kate Shortman the young Artistic Swimmer performing admirably in the Women’s Solo Technical prelim. The technical event requires competitors to perform predetermined elements in their routine, in a particular order, and Shortman was more than up to the challenge. Scoring well for impression, the Bristol based athlete racked up a total of 83.4981 points to finish 10th and advance to tomorrow’s final.
Ross Haslam was the first British athlete in action at the 2019 edition of these global championships, as he and James Heatly contested the Men’s 1m Springboard prelims, hoping to book their slots in Sunday afternoon’s finals.
Haslam made a strong start, however an over-rotation on his third round Forward 3 ½ Somersault Tuck (107C) left him with a lot of work to do, as at the halfway mark he sat in 31st with only 12 men advancing to the final.
Edinburgh’s James Heatly made an even better start, fourth after a 67.20 point opener and put together a fairly solid series of dives, improving in the final couple of rounds to book his place in the final. Outside the top 12 with one dive to go the Edinburgh diver pulled it out the bag with a 67.20 point Forward 2 ½ Somersault 1 Twist Pike (5152B) to finish 10th.
Through to the final with a score in excess of 350 points, Heatly said:
“I’m really happy to make it through, but it wasn’t the best performance. I opened up well but there were a few mistakes here and there so I had to fight back, so I’m very happy to have made it through and have the chance to do it all again. Job one done, so bring on Sunday.”
It wasn’t to be for Sheffield’s Ross Haslam though, as he left himself with too much ground to make up, and despite his best efforts couldn’t quite claw his way back into the top dozen.
Despite his disappointment, Haslam was very measured post-competition:
“I’m very disappointed. That third round was not a good dive. I didn’t dip my head though and I tried my best to bring it back but it was too far gone unfortunately. I’m pretty proud of myself for not giving up after that dive to be honest, as in the past that would have been my head straight down, but I kept pretty positive and did my maths, so I’d worked out what I needed, but I just couldn’t quite bring it back. I’m in action again on Tuesday in the team event with Eden, which will be the first team event I’ve ever done – it should be good!”
It was a similar story in the qualification round of the Women’s 1m Springboard as one of the two women in action advanced to tomorrow’s final. That lady was Kat Torrance, the Leeds diver showing remarkable consistency to produce five dives all within six points. Her 50.40 Inward 1 ½ Somersault Pike (403B) opener set her on her way, as she amassed 236.75 points to match Heatly’s 10th place finish.
Of her efforts Torrance surmised:
“That was pretty good – it was steady and consistent, with a few things I could have done better, but overall I’m pretty happy. This is the only individual event I’m doing here, so I was hoping for a good result but I’m not too worried about it as it isn’t an Olympic event so it was more just to go out there and get a competition in ahead of the synchro. I’ll try and focus on myself in the final, just try and do each and every dive a little bit better than before and then see where I end up.”
Despite pretty flawless first and last dives, young senior debutant Scarlett Mew Jensen couldn’t quite put together the type of series needed to join Torrance in a battle for the medals on Saturday, but showed maturity beyond her years, having travelled to South Korea straight from the European Junior Championships.
Showing undoubted quality, Mew Jensen was pleased with her efforts and will now prepare for her primary event, the 3m Springboard.
Speaking afterwards she commented:
“The aim was to get used to this environment ahead of the 3m, which is my main board. It’s a really long competition and I’m not used to that, so I was just trying to get the jist of it and get my head right – I’ve never done a competition that long before. I’m really happy with the tops of my dives – I didn’t quite get the finishes that I wanted but overall I’m happy. I’m excited for the three metre now.
“The team are amazing and the morale we have as a team is so good. The rest of the team have been to the World Series and stuff and I haven’t, but they’ve really welcomed me into the team. Regardless of the outcome in the 3m I’m really happy to be part of the team and will be cheering everyone else on.”
The final event of the day was over at the Artistic Swimming venue, Yeomju Gymnasium, where Shortman was back in action alongside Izzy Thorpe in the Women’s Duet Technical. One of the first pairs to perform their routine, the young duo could be pleased with their efforts, but ultimately were just a couple of points shy of making the final at their maiden World Championships.
Saturday sees more Artistic Swimming and Diving action, with the first medals to be decided, whilst the Marathon Swimming gets underway in Yeosu.
Full results from the FINA World Aquatics Championships can be found here.
You can catch all the action live on FINA TV