Matthew Mitcham Misses Out

International News, By Christian Taylor, 21st July, 2009

Olympic gold medalist Matthew Mitcham looks set for another victory after the preliminary round of the 10m platform in Rome, Italy this week.

The Herald Sun reports that Mitcham scored the highest with a 102.60 point dive on his sixth and final attempt to qualify for the world championships. He was the only diver to score over 100 points.

“I am surprised how well I’m doing,” Mitcham told the press.

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While his final dive was so well, his overall performance saw him qualify in fourth place with a total of 491.50 points, behind China’s Qiu Bo (515.75), Cuba’s Jose Guerra (515.65) and Chinese Olympic silver medallist Zhou Luxin (495.55).

The semi-final and final take place in Rome on Tuesday. Briony Cole and Sharleen Stratton are two other Australians competing in the final of the women’s 3m springboard.

Update: Mitcham plummeted from second to fourth with his final 10m platform dive at the FINA world championships on Tuesday in Rome. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that he was just 6.5 points behind Chinese teenager Qiu Bo heading into the final round at Foro Italico. However his final score wasn’t enough, and in the end it was Britain’s 15-year-old diving prodigy Thomas Daley who won.

“I was just as good as everybody else, just one tiniest little mistake and it means I was out of the medals,” Mitcham told press afterwards. “I was only like one point out of the medals with the mistake.”