Yesterday afternoon, midway through the USA Diving Trials, the organization learned that it had been awarded a second spot for the women’s 3 meter competition. This means that both the first and second place finishers in Sunday night’s final will earn a spot in Rio.
Red the USA Diving Press Release Below:
USA Diving has received notification from FINA that it has been awarded a second women’s 3-meter spot for the upcoming Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
The U.S. initially had qualified one spot for women’s 3-meter and received the second spot when FINA, the international governing body for aquatic sports, reallocated unused quota spots.
Notification of the second spot comes in the middle of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Diving. The women’s 3-meter final is set for Sunday, June 26. With the addition of the second quota spot, two women’s 3-meter divers will be named to the U.S. Olympic Team.
Kassidy Cook (The Woodlands, Texas), who was seventh at the FINA World Cup in February to secure the first quota spot for the U.S., heads into the finals in first place with 660.85 points. Abby Johnston (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Durham, N.C.) sits in second place at 626.55 and holds a 14.95-point lead over Laura Ryan (Elk River, Minn./Athens, Ga.).
Unused quota spots were reallocated in order of finish at the FINA World Cup, where the top 18 divers earned spots for their countries. Johnston finished 20th on 3-meter at the World Cup, which put the U.S. second in line to receive a women’s 3-meter spot during reallocation.
A maximum of 136 divers, and no more than 34 on each individual event, may participate in the Olympic Games.
Six divers have already been selected to the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team. David Boudia (Noblesville, Ind./West Lafayette, Ind.) qualified for this third Olympics after winning men’s synchronized 10-meter with Steele Johnson (Carmel, Ind./West Lafayette, Ind.) at the trials Thursday night. On Wednesday, Sam Dorman (Tempe, Ariz./Miami, Fla.) and Michael Hixon (Amherst, Mass./Bloomington, Ind.) qualified in men’s synchronized 3-meter as did Amy Cozad (Indianapolis, Ind./Bloomington, Ind.) and Jessica Parratto (Dover, N.H./Bloomington, Ind.) in women’s 3-meter.
The U.S. Olympic Team Trials continue through June 26. Individual finals in men’s 3-meter and women’s 10-meter will be held Saturday, and women’s 3-meter and men’s 10-meter finals are set for Sunday.
