A magnificent closing dive from Jake Passmore sealed his place in the 3m springboard semi-finals at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, keeping alive his chances of qualifying for the Paris Olympics this summer.
Still only 18, Passmore saved his best effort until last, scoring 78.20 points from his most difficult dive to finish in 17th position, one place inside the semi-final cut-off.
He now goes into Wednesday morning’s semi-final aiming for a top-12 finish, which would make the final and also guarantee his Paris qualification; each country can only qualify two divers per event, which also gives Passmore a chance of making Paris on the countback.
“I was so nervous, same for every dive, but that felt like there was a massive weight on my shoulders,” he said of his last dive, finishing with a score of 374.15. “And as soon as my hands hit the water, I knew that it was good, I just wasn’t sure how good it was and if it was enough, but it turned out it was.”
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In all, 70 divers went into the preliminary round, which took five hours to complete, Passmore improving significantly on his 45th place at the last championships in Fukuoka last July. In 2022, the Leeds-based diver won a first ever medal at the World Junior Diving Championships, claiming bronze in the 1m springboard.
On Thursday, Clare Cryan will look to repeat that feat and make the semi-final of the women’s 3m springboard, also eying up Paris qualification.
The swimming events get under way at the weekend, the 10-strong Irish team including Mona McSharry, ranked second fastest of the entries in the 100m breaststroke, with Daniel Wiffen ranked second in the 800m freestyle, and third in the 1500m freestyle. No Irish swimmer has yet won a medal before at the World long-course championships.
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