MONTREAL (CP) - Alexandre Despatie of Laval, Que., earned his third gold medal this weekend with a victory on men's three-metre springboard on Sunday to conclude the Canada Cup FINA Grand Prix diving competition.
Meaghan Benfeito and Jennifer Abel, both of Montreal, added a silver on women's three-metre synchro.
In the men's three-metre, Despatie took the gold with a score of 536.70. He received a 9.0 from at least one of the seven judges in each of his final six dives, and on two dives one of the judges gave him a perfect 10.
Yutong Luo of China was in a tight battle with Despatie until he flubbed his fifth dive and took the silver at 499.05. Chris Colwill of the U.S., was third at 447.30.
"One of the toughest aspects of diving is to keep calm and stay focused the entire competition, and that part went well for me," said Despatie, also the 10-metre tower and three-metre synchro winner (with Arturo Miranda), this weekend.
"When Luo missed that fifth dive, I knew it was important for me to keep my composure. In those situations there can be a tendency to let go and then you miss yourself. I stayed focus and got on that board."
Chinese divers won the other three finals Sunday to finish the weekend atop the medal parade with five gold, three silver and a bronze. Canada finished with three gold and two silver while the U.S., took two silver and two bronze.
In women's three-metre synchro, Ting Li and Zi He of China were the victors at 315.30 followed Benfeito and Abel at 290.10 out of 11 entries. The Canadian pair needed to score big on their last dive to remain in medal contention.
"On the last dive we weren't really thinking about the silver," said Benfeito. "When we heard the reaction of the crowd that we were second it was pretty amazing. We really did a great job. We have a similar technique on the springboard and we showed that today."
On women's tower, Ruo Lin Chen led China to a 1-2 finish with Emilie Heymans of St-Lambert, Que., fourth and Roseline Filion of Laval fifth.
Riley McCormick of Victoria and Nicholas Lachance of Montreal were fourth in the men's 10-metre synchro.
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