Canada is still chasing its first medal at the World Aquatics Championships
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As we wait for the swim races to start on Saturday, Canadian athletes will have no hardware to show for the first four days of competition in Fukuoka, Japan.
A few divers came close over the weekend. Nathan Zsombor-Murray and Kate Miller finished fifth in the synchronized 10 meter event and Pamela Ware placed fourth in the women’s 1 meter springboard. Mia Vallée, who took bronze in the 1 meter at the world championships in Budapest last year, did not qualify for the final round with 12 divers.
Today, Vallée and Ware made a run on the podium in the women’s 3m synchronized competition, but missed it by less than two points to finish fifth. Zsombor-Murray and Rylan Wiens were likely medal contenders in the men’s 10m synchronized after winning bronze last year, but Wiens pulled out of the world championships late last week due to a back injury.
Canada’s wait for a diving medal will last at least another two days as the country has no entry in Tuesday’s only competition, the mixed team event. Chinese divers will try for their eighth gold medal in eight events after a perfect 13-for-13 at the worlds last year.
Canada has also been excluded from the medals in artistic swimming and open water swimming so far. The best results were a pair of sixth places in artistic swimming, by Audrey Lamothe in the women’s solo technical event and by the Canadian team in the acrobatic event.
Canada’s men’s water polo team is 1-0 after beating China 13-10 on Sunday, while the women’s team is 0-1 after defeating Hungary 11-10. Both teams will continue in groups on Tuesday. The women play New Zealand (1-0) at 3AM ET, while the men play Italy (1-0) at 8PM ET. Watch both games, plus the mixed team event of the diving at 5 a.m. ET, live on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app, and CBC Gem.
