Ireland’s Oliver Dingley has become the first Irish diver to qualify for an Olympic final after progressing to tonight’s final of the 3m individual springboard at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre in Rio.
Dingley progressed with an overall score of 414.25 to finish ninth of the 18 semi-finalists, with 12 set to contest tonight’s final.
Completing the same set of six dives as he did in the preliminary round, but in a different order, the 22-year-old showed impressive form throughout the two-hour competition.
A score of 69.75 and 73.10 saw Dingley sit comfortably in 10th after two dives.
A shout from the crowd as he completed his third dive distracted the English-born Irish diver, but he was allowed to retake that dive due to the interference, putting up a score of 64.50 for 13thplace.
Dingley dived back into the finals places with a score of 64.50 in the fourth round to put him 12th.
He had scored just 44 points in his fifth dive yesterday, but a much improved execution of the reverse 2½ somersaults saw him score 67.50 points to put him 10th and 27 points ahead of the 13th-place competitor.
As he did yesterday, Dingley saved his best dive for last, nailing the back 2½ somersaults with 1½ twists for 73.10 points and a place in the final.
China’s Yuan Cao held the top spot once again with 489.10 points, while London 2012 Olympic gold medalist Ilia Zakharov of Russia failed to progress after finishing in 18th place.
The final takes place at 10pm Irish time tonight.
