Australia's top divers took flight over the weekend at the 2011 World Championships selection trials in Melbourne.
Fifteen year old Queenslander Brittany Broben firmly lodged her claim for selection in the 2011 World Championships team with a narrow win over seasoned Olympian Alexandra Croak (NSW) on the final day of selection trials in Melbourne. It was a thrilling 10m platform contest that saw the lead change several times during the final.
Broben was placed second after the preliminaries and semi finals, but produced her best form to edge out Croak by a narrow margin-383.55 to 381.50. In third place was 2008 Olympian Melissa Wu who scored 377.15.
An excited Broben said “That was such a relief to me to win the final. I was really nervous going in to the finals and Alex pushed me all the way” said Brittany.
“This is the first time I have competed against both Alex and Melissa in over 12 months, so I am stoked with the result. I hope I will now make the team for Shanghai” she said.
Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Sharleen Stratton (QLD) collected three gold medals at the selection meet with triumphs in the 1 metre springboard, 3 metre synchronised and 3 metre springboard.
In the men’s 3 metre springboard, Grant Nel (VIC) continued his solid form to record a score of 473.15,which should make him a likely selection for the team, given the withdrawal of both Ethan Warren (QLD) and Scott Robertson (NSW) with injuries. On day one Nel also took out the 1 metre springboard and was the only diver to record a qualifying score with 364.85.
In the final of the men’s 10 metre platform event, Victorian James Connor recorded a final score of 483.55 to stake his claim for a position in the team to the World Championships in Shanghai in July.
Injured Beijing Gold medallist, Matthew Mitcham is likely to be selected for the 10 metre event, due to his recent results in International competition.
The Australian team will be announced by Diving Australia selectors no later than Wednesday 8th June 2011. The team selection will take into account all the diver’s scores from the preliminaries through to finals.
Diving Australia with AOC
