Twelve of the 18 remaining competitors will advance Saturday afternoon to compete in the women’s individual 3m springboard final on Sunday.
There’s plenty of strategy selecting which dives to perform in which rounds. Since scores do not roll over from preliminary to semifinal to final, as long as a diver is in the final, they have an equal shot at winning a medal.
Italian Tania Cagnotto, a 16-year Olympic veteran who won her first career medal when she and partner Francesca Dallapé took silver in the women’s synchronized 3m springboard on Monday, finished fourth in the preliminary — exactly where she wants to be.
“I don’t like to do too well in the semi and prelim otherwise I can’t redo it in the final, so I am happy about that,” Cagnotto said, adding that she hopes to save her best dives for Sunday’s final.
American Kassidy Cook, who finished eighth with 327.75 points, posted to Instagram with the caption: “Lots more in the tank.”
Canada’s Jennifer Abel placed first in the preliminaries with 373.00 points — ahead of the favorites from China He Zi and Shi Tingmao. Abel posted a photo early Saturday morning with the caption: “In the zone with my coach.”
China has won the women’s individual 3m springboard event at every Olympics since 1988 — seven straight victories.
The semifinal takes place Saturday at 3pm ET at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Center teeing up Sunday’s 3pm final.