SINGAPORE: New diving duo Elvis Priestly Clement and Enrique Harold Maccartney put on a respectable display by finishing seventh in the men’s 10m platform synchro final at the World Aquatics Championships on Tuesday.
The Malaysian pair scored 374.70 points after six dives — the country’s best-ever finish in the event at the world meet.
Previously, Bryan Nickson Lomas-James Sandayud held the record with a 10th-place finish at the 2005 Montreal edition, a feat later matched by Ooi Tze Liang-Chew Yiwei in Kazan, Russia, in 2015.
China‘s Cheng Zilong-Zhu Zifeng struck gold with 429.63 points, narrowly beating Russia’s Nikita Shleikher-Ruslan Ternovoi (428.70). Americans Carson Tyler-Joshua Hedberg took bronze with 410.70.
Earlier in the day, Elvis-Enrique booked their spot in the final after finishing sixth in the preliminaries with 378.36 points.
While they missed out on a medal, it was still a commendable effort from 18-year-old Elvis, who made his debut at the world meet and now shifts focus to the men’s 10m platform individual event on Saturday.
In the pool, Andrew Goh finally got his campaign underway in the 50m breaststroke, finishing 47th overall with a time of 28.21s — a performance clearly impacted by illness.
The 20-year-old was forced to withdraw from the 100m breaststroke on Sunday after coming down with a fever.
“Obviously not too satisfied, definitely not my best,” said Andrew.
“I fell sick on the first day, had a fever… four days of no swimming. It took the power and strength out of me.
“I’m disappointed, but there’s always another worlds. You can only come back stronger.”
In the men’s 800m freestyle, Khiew Hoe Yean finished 22nd in the heats with a time of 8:08.62, missing out on a place in the final.
Arvin Shaun Singh, Ananda Lim and Jayden Tan will be in action on Wednesday.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
