Dubai: Russia’s Victor Minibaev had the last laugh in the men’s 10 metre platform finals, the final event of the three-day FINA/NVC Diving World Series Dubai 2014 which concluded on Saturday night.
Nearly 2,000 people flocked to the Hamdan Sports Complex for the highly anticipated event and to see the world’s best in action, and were not disappointed. Along with world champion Qiu Bo, the field included crowd favourite and Olympic bronze medallist Tom Daley of Great Britain, Olympic champion David Boudia, world championships bronze medallist Sascha Klein, world championship silver medallist in synchro Minibaev and European champion Oleksandr Bondar.
Every diver produced a brilliant first round dive, all scoring in the eighties, with the exception of Daley who threw down the gauntlet to his competition, posting 99.75 for his 626B armstand back triple somersault to take the lead. Qiu posted the first tens of the night with his second dive, earning the perfect score from four of the judges and 103.25 total to take the lead, which he hung onto with a 98.60 for his next dive. Daley’s second dive was not as strong, dropping him to fourth place, with the USA’s Boudia moving into second.
Daley moved back up to third in round three but missed the entry on the fourth dive, scoring only 66.60 and putting him in fifth place and, short of a miracle, out of contention for a medal.
Qiu produced a breath-taking perfect dive in round four with his 207B back 3.5 somersaults pike. When the seven tens showed on the scoreboard the crowd erupted.
Disappointing
The joy turned to despair on Qiu’s next dive, as he over rotated on the 109c forward 4 ½ in tuck position and missed the entry, scoring him a disappointing 49.94 to drop out of the gold medal position, and hand the lead to Russia’s Minibaev.
While Qui had a bad fifth round missing the same dive that brought Daley unstuck, Boudia was climbing back up the rankings with a fifth round 102.60 to move into third place.
Qiu bounced back with his final dive earning him 83.60, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the consistent Minibaev, who took the gold with 537.05, just 6.15 points ahead of Qiu. Daley’s last two dives scored in the 90s but still weren’t enough to put him on the podium, and he finished in fourth with 520.55, just 7.75 points away from the bronze, which Boudia took with 528.30.
Earlier in the evening the women’s final saw a clear cut leader emerge early. Canada’s Meaghan Benfeito posted the best dive of the first round, but was quickly overtaken by China’s world championships 10m synchro gold medallist Liu Huixia. Liu went on to produce some brilliant dives, with three scoring in the 80s to stretch her lead, taking China’s sixth gold of the competition with 400.70.
“I was very happy with my performance, I prefer the individual event.” Lui also won gold in the 10m synchro in Dubai. “I feel more confident” said Lui.
