Canadians Benfeito,Filion win diving bronze medals at World Series event

LONDON, England – Canadians Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion captured the bronze medal in the women’s 10-metre synchronized event Friday at a FINA World Series diving competition.

China’s Ruolin Chen and Huixia Liu finished first with 337.14 points for their third victory this season. Sarah Barrow and Tonia Couch of Britain won the silver medal with 321.24 points while Benfeito, of Montreal, and Filion, of Laval, were third with 316.11.

“The quality of our individual dives was much better than at the first two stops on the World Series,” said Benfeito. “We had struggled with our compulsory dives earlier this season and after we did them well today it gave us a lot of confidence.”

Benfeito and Filion, the Olympic bronze medallists, hadn’t competed since the last World Series stop last month in Dubai.

“We did a lot of work on our entries in training,” she said. “That’s the biggest area we need to improve to catch the Chinese teams.”

The Chinese lead the overall women’s 10-metre synchronized standings with 81 points, with Benfeito and Filion second with 66 points.