DIVING - Good friends make a big splash

Pair wins bronze in synchro platform with barely three weeks of practice to prepare for Games

- ROSIE DIMANNO

Nathan Zsombor-Murray and Rylan Wiens finished third in synchro platform diving Monday to become the first Canadian male divers to win an Olympic medal since the 2008 Beijing Games.

PARIS "One-two-three-go." And they did: Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray, off the 10-metre platform and into synchronized diving bronze for Canada at the Paris Olympics.

Simulated their sixth and final dive in Monday morning's final as they were clambering up the top, then executed well enough to medal behind the endlessly unparalleled Chinese and the Brits. Squeezing ahead of Mexico on their final offering of the day.

When their podium finish became evident, there was much screaming and hugging from the friends since childhood and synchro partners since 2021, but with barely three weeks to practise together in preparation for Paris. Wiens trains in Saskatoon, Zsombor-Murray in Montreal.

"More than thrilled, absolutely stoked," crowed Wiens. "It's an amazing feeling. I can't even explain it." The duo was actually in second place after their two opening dives: their simplest manoeuvres, inward pike to start, but commandingly unspooled, which had them ahead of Britain's Tom Daley and Noah Williams. But that veteran team, anchored by the iconic Daley, slipped in behind the Chinese team of Junjie Lian and Hao Yang as the standings tightened.