07/17/2019 | Women's Swimming and Diving
TUCSON, Ariz. -- During her career at Arizona, Delaney Schnell has proved to be one of the best divers in the NCAA, earning four All-America honors over her two seasons with the Wildcats.
On Wednesday, the Tucson native proved she was one of the best divers in the world.
Just 24 hours after qualifying for her first ever World Championship finals appearance with an eighth-place preliminary showing and earning the USA an Olympic spot in the process, Schnell crossed another item off of her career checklist. Schnell, who will begin her junior year at Arizona in the fall, took home the bronze medal in the 10-meter platform with a score of 364.20. It is Schnell's first ever medal at a World Championship event; she placed 27th in the event in 2017.
Schnell's third-place finish ended a 14-year drought for USA Diving in the 10-meter platform; she became the first U.S. woman to take home an individual 10-meter medal at the World Championships since Laura Wilkinson won gold in 2005.
After two dives on Wednesday, Schnell sat outside of the top five, but an 82.50 third dive vaulted her into third place with two dives remaining.
"That's actually that's one of my struggle dives," Schnell told USA Diving of the 3 1/2 tuck that helped move her into podium position. "That's the one, when I hit that, I was like 'Oh my gosh.' That was such a sigh of relief. It's definitely one that I have to work harder on. Normally I'm not aware, but when I hit my third dive, my back 3 ½, I knew that I was in the race after seeing where I was placed. Then it was just keeping myself calm, not trying too hard."
After falling back to fifth place after her fourth dive, Schnell needed to post a strong finish to get back onto the podium. Schnell scored a 76.80 on her fifth dive to move from fifth to third and finish 4.00 points ahead of Australia's Melissa Wu for third place to earn her first career bronze medal.
China took home the top two spots on the podium. Yuxi Chen (439.00) won gold and Wei Lu (377.80) earned silver, 13.60 points ahead of Schnell, who was the top U.S. diver in the event by 59.20 over Amelia Magana, who finished 11th in the finals.
"My coach is really good about telling me how to stay calm, because with a final like this there's a lot of adrenaline and it's very easy to overthrow and try too hard on dives. It was really just trying to keep myself calm," Schnell said.
Schnell was accompanied by UA diving coach Dwight Dumais in Gwangju, South Korea, who trained Schnell for the competition. Dumais enters his second season at Arizona in the fall.
After helping earning USA Diving a pair of Olympic spots in the platform by qualifying for the World Championship final, Schnell will look to earn one of those spots at the Olympic Trials next summer in Indianapolis (June 13-21, 2020).
On Wednesday, the Tucson native proved she was one of the best divers in the world.
Just 24 hours after qualifying for her first ever World Championship finals appearance with an eighth-place preliminary showing and earning the USA an Olympic spot in the process, Schnell crossed another item off of her career checklist. Schnell, who will begin her junior year at Arizona in the fall, took home the bronze medal in the 10-meter platform with a score of 364.20. It is Schnell's first ever medal at a World Championship event; she placed 27th in the event in 2017.
WATCH || Delaney Schnell becomes the first @USADiving woman to earn an individual 10-meter medal at World Championships in 14 years!#BearDown ???? pic.twitter.com/PYlx1pZcyb
— Arizona Swim & Dive (@ArizonaSwimDive) July 17, 2019
Schnell's third-place finish ended a 14-year drought for USA Diving in the 10-meter platform; she became the first U.S. woman to take home an individual 10-meter medal at the World Championships since Laura Wilkinson won gold in 2005.
After two dives on Wednesday, Schnell sat outside of the top five, but an 82.50 third dive vaulted her into third place with two dives remaining.
"That's actually that's one of my struggle dives," Schnell told USA Diving of the 3 1/2 tuck that helped move her into podium position. "That's the one, when I hit that, I was like 'Oh my gosh.' That was such a sigh of relief. It's definitely one that I have to work harder on. Normally I'm not aware, but when I hit my third dive, my back 3 ½, I knew that I was in the race after seeing where I was placed. Then it was just keeping myself calm, not trying too hard."
After falling back to fifth place after her fourth dive, Schnell needed to post a strong finish to get back onto the podium. Schnell scored a 76.80 on her fifth dive to move from fifth to third and finish 4.00 points ahead of Australia's Melissa Wu for third place to earn her first career bronze medal.
China took home the top two spots on the podium. Yuxi Chen (439.00) won gold and Wei Lu (377.80) earned silver, 13.60 points ahead of Schnell, who was the top U.S. diver in the event by 59.20 over Amelia Magana, who finished 11th in the finals.
"My coach is really good about telling me how to stay calm, because with a final like this there's a lot of adrenaline and it's very easy to overthrow and try too hard on dives. It was really just trying to keep myself calm," Schnell said.
Schnell was accompanied by UA diving coach Dwight Dumais in Gwangju, South Korea, who trained Schnell for the competition. Dumais enters his second season at Arizona in the fall.
After helping earning USA Diving a pair of Olympic spots in the platform by qualifying for the World Championship final, Schnell will look to earn one of those spots at the Olympic Trials next summer in Indianapolis (June 13-21, 2020).
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