Joey Payeur
Molly Carlson’s exit from her last junior diving meet on Canadian soil was pure grace with a touch of gold.
The Fort Frances native, who now calls Toronto home, bid farewell at her final Speedo Junior Elite National Championships in dramatic fashion—taking gold in the women’s Group A 3m event and then bronze in the Group A platform (10m) over the weekend in Winnipeg.
Her 3m victory means Carlson can book her flight to Kazan, Russia for the FINA World Junior Diving Championships from Nov. 29-Dec. 4.
“Honestly, this weekend went better than expected,” said Carlson.
“I went in, had fun, and came away with some amazing results.
“It was a really positive experience for my last junior nationals,” she added.
“It’s nice to know that you’ve left your mark at that level and to hear a lot of people look up to you, it’s exciting.”
Carlson, who battled through injuries to both her wrists earlier this season, used the 1m event as a warm-up for her 3m specialty.
She was third in the preliminaries (416.35 points) before slipping two spots in the final despite a higher score (418.45), with Montreal’s Olivia Chamandy earning the first of three gold for the weekend (455.45).
“It was a good event to get the jitters out,” reasoned Carlson, who will attend Florida State University this fall on a full scholarship after committing to the Seminoles’ diving team.
The 3m event has been Carlson’s domain in recent years on the junior scene in Canada—and she dealt with a flood of emotions as she measured each dive.
“Knowing it was my last 3m junior event in Canada, I was kind of sad,” she conceded.
Things didn’t start well for Carlson, though, who sat third after the preliminaries (491.50) behind Edmonton’s Elaena Dick (518.55) and Chamandy (515.75).
“Going into the final, I didn’t want to be just third,” she recalled.
“I knew I had it in me and my experience took over.”
When Dick’s second dive only was good for 32.20 points, the battle came down to Carlson and Chamandy, who virtually were dead even after two dives each.
But Carlson soared to 63 points on her most difficult dive while Chamandy mustered only 42. And suddenly with two dives left, the door had burst wide open for the former Thunder Bay resident to go for gold.
And she didn’t disappoint—earning another 63 on her fourth dive and then 58.80 on her last one to finish with 505.30 points.
Dick wound up second (480.95) while Mara George of Winnipeg came third (475.50), with Chamandy dropping all the way down to fourth (469.70).
“I’m so happy with the outcome,” enthused Carlson.
“It really meant the world to me to win my last junior nationals in the 3m.”
Carlson then was third in the 10m preliminaries with 368.55 points, trailing only Chamandy (453) and Montreal’s Tereza Vithoulkas (383.15).
In the four-dive final, Carlson started quickly (63.45) but then stumbled slightly on her second and third dives (37.70 and 46.40).
That put her in sixth place and 11 points behind Sarah Jodoin Di Maria (Blainville, Que.) for the bronze medal—with one final chance to make up the ground.
“I had very, very little training on the platform since my hand injuries, and I knew I had already made junior worlds in the 3m,” noted Carlson.
“I just went into the final wanting to have fun and see what I could do.”
What Carlson did was pull off what she believes was the best dive of her life—nailing a reverse 2.5 tuck and turn the scoreboard into a pinball machine.
When the numbers stopped rolling in (all 9.5 out of 10 from the judges except for one at 9.0), the 79.80 score was the highest of any single dive of anyone in the final.
It also vaulted Carlson into third spot with 389.45 points, just ahead of Jodoin Di Maria in fourth (385.10).
But Carlson was more excited for her good friend Vithoulkas, who held on for second spot (416.20) behind Chamandy (426.40) and will join Carlson in Russia.
“Tereza has worked so hard and in the spirit of healthy competition, I was hoping she would get it,” said Carlson, who heads to Tallahassee, Fla. next month to begin training with the Seminoles.
“The junior worlds are going to interrupt my schooling, so we’ll have to try and figure it out,” she noted.
As for her hopes for the junior worlds, Carlson is tempering her expectations.
“We’ll see how it goes,” she said.
“There’s a lot more athletes at this one compared to the Junior Pan-Ams, but I’ve got experience from my last junior worlds and now that I’m older, that should give me an edge,” she remarked.
“I hope everything goes good,” Carlson added.
“This will be my last-ever junior competition so I hope it’s a positive experience.”
