Pamela Ware seeks hometown redemption at diving World Cup stop in Montreal
31-year old top Canadian diver struggled in recent world championship meet in Doha
Top Canadian diver Pamela Ware is looking for redemption this weekend after a world championship to forget earlier this month.
Following a stellar 2023 season that included five World Cup medals, a world championship bronze and three medals (two gold, one silver) at the Pan American Games, Ware finished 25th in the individual three-metre event and experienced some deja vu in the synchronized dive.
The 31-year-old from Montreal missed her takeoff and dropped feet-first into the pool to score a zero — a scene reminiscent of a missed dive at the Tokyo Olympics that caused her to step away from the sport for a season.
In Doha, Ware and teammate Mia Vallee of Beaconsfield, Que., ultimately finished a disappointing 15th and failed to secure a quota spot for this summer's Paris Olympics.
"We thought we'd overcome a lot of the distress that she left Tokyo with," Diving Canada chief technical director Mitch Geller said of Ware on Wednesday at the Olympic Pool. "She seemed to have it all together there."
"Obviously, it's a big concern, it's a big concern to her," he added. "But also, she's pretty experienced."
WATCH | Pamela Ware captures 1m springboard gold at Pan Am Games:
While Vallee is taking some time away to focus on training, Ware is right back at it this weekend as Montreal hosts the first World Aquatics Diving World Cup of the season.
Ware requested not to speak with the media Wednesday after her missed dive in Doha, but Geller says she wanted to get another competition under her belt.
"She's comfortable here," Geller said. "I think she wanted to come in and possibly have a little redemption from the experience in Doha.
"From what I see, she's diving OK, she's doing OK there."
With the same cast of competitors as at the worlds, Geller sees this weekend's competition as a perfect stage for Ware and his team to redeem themselves from an unusual podium-less showing on the international stage.
"Looking around the pool, we just came back from Doha, and I feel like all we've done is change the venue," he said. "The same faces are there.
"I'm going to be interested to see how everybody responds to those world championships."
Examining the rest
On a more positive note, Calgary's Caeli McKay and Ottawa's Kate Miller booked their spot in the Paris Games with a sixth-place finish in the 10-metre synchro in Doha.
With the relief of having that secured, they're excited to enjoy their weekend in front of a home crowd while fine-tuning their dives.
"It's a little bit hard to have fun when you're really fighting for an Olympic spot," McKay said. "Our family is going to be here to watch and we're going to be able to try and implement the big changes that we want to do on our dives here at home."
Canada has also secured one quota spot in the women's individual 10-metre.
In the men's 10-metre, Canada has earned three quota spots for Paris so far — two individual and one synchro.
WATCH | Wiens, Zsombor-Murray secure places in Paris Games:
Rylan Wiens of Pike Lake, Sask., earned an individual spot with a fifth-place finish in Doha after missing almost three months last year with a back injury.
Wiens, 22, then teamed up with 20-year-old Nathan Zsombor-Murray of Pointe-Claire, Que., to place fifth in the 10-metre synchro.
Despite booking their tickets to Paris, Wiens says they have no plans of letting up while keeping the goal of an Olympic podium in mind.
Wiens and Zsombor-Murray previously won bronze as a pair in the 10-metre synchronized dive at the 2022 world championships, a first in that event in Canadian diving history.
Competition in Montreal opens with women's three-metre and men's 10-metre preliminary rounds on Thursday. Men's three-metre and women's 10-metre preliminaries follow on Friday, along with a team event final.
Finals for the men's three-metre synchro, women's 10-metre synchro, men's 10-metre individual and women's three-metre individual take place Saturday.
And competition wraps up Sunday with the women's three-metre synchro, men's 10-metre synchro, men's three-metre individual and women's 10-metre individual finals.
The event features over 120 divers — including 12 Canadians — from more than 20 countries.
Rosters
Women
- Caeli McKay (10 m, 10 m synchro)
- Kate Miller (10m, 10 m synchro)
- Eloise Belanger (10m)
- Pamela Ware (3m)
- Amelie-Laura Jasmin (3m)
- Aimee Wilson (3m, 3m synchro)
- Margo Erlam (3m synchro)
Men
- Nathan Zsombor-Murray (10 m, 10 m synchro)
- Rylan Wiens (10 m, 10 m synchro)
- Benjamin Tessier (10m)
- Bryden Hattie (3m)
- Cedric Fofana (3m)
