Downs, Schnell capture final spots on US Olympic diving team

INDIANAPOLIS — Tyler Downs defeated a pair of Olympians to win the men’s 3-meter springboard title at the U.S. diving trials, earning a trip to the Tokyo Games at age 17. Delaney Schnell won the women’s 10-meter platform title on Sunday.

Downs finished with 1,333.75 points. Andrew Copobianco took second at 1,319.40.

David Boudia, who won the 10-meter title at the 2012 London Games and finished third in Rio five years ago, was third and missed out on a fourth Olympic appearance. He totaled 1,314.95. Michael Hixon, silver medalist on 3-meter synchro in 2016, was fourth.

“This was not by far my best competition,” Boudia said.

He switched from platform to springboard after sustaining a concussion in practice in 2018. In the finals Sunday, Boudia dropped from first to third after four rounds. He dropped to fifth before rallying to take third.

But the father of three expressed no regrets.

“I don’t think I’ve ever walked away from a defeat like this so happy ever in my career,” Boudia said. “I look at Andrew and how he’s battled back. He got the job done. Tyler Downs, I think everyone in this building had a tear for him. He has an exciting future and I’m super proud of him.”

Tokyo will be Downs’ second international-level meet.

Schnell won the women’s platform with 1,021.90 points to earn her second berth for Tokyo. Earlier, she and partner Jessica Parratto qualified first in 10-meter synchro. Parratto finished fourth in individual platform.

Katrina Young, a 2016 Olympian, earned the second spot by taking second at 984.70.

Laura Wilkinson, the 2000 Olympic champion, finished 10th of 12 divers in the final. The 43-year-old mother of four had first retired in 2008 after her third games.

Her victory in Sydney is the last by an American woman in the games.


More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports