Canada's Zsombor-Murray, Wiens win bronze in synchronized 10-metre platform

PARIS — An agonizing three seconds turned into a moment of joy for Nathan Zsombor-Murray and Rylan Wiens.

After completing their sixth and final dive from the 10-metre platform at the Olympic Aquatics Centre in Paris on Monday, the Canadians had to wait a few minutes before they were assured a spot on the podium at the Summer Games for the first time in their careers.

When the score for Mexico’s Kevin Berlin Reyes and Randal Willars Valdez appeared on the board, essentially confirming the bronze medal win for the Canadians, Zsombor-Murray hugged Wiens with a look of disbelief on his face.

The pair became the first Canadian male divers to win an Olympic medal since Alexandre Despatie at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“(It was) the hardest three seconds of our lives," Zsombor-Murray said of the wait to see the Mexican team’s score appear on the giant screen.

“I don’t know enough words to describe what I’m feeling," added the diver from Pointe-Claire, Que. "We’ve been visualizing a medal for two years. We medalled in 2022 in Budapest (bronze at the World Aquatics Championships). That was the goal. It was from that moment on that we knew we were able to win a medal here. We had that in mind at every training session."

Zsombor-Murray and Wiens, from Pike Lake, Sask., earned a cumulative score of 422.13 points in the synchronized event.

China’s Junjie Lian and Hao Yang dominated the competition with a score of 490.35 points. Britain’s Tom Daley and Noah Williams came in second with 463.44 points.

China has won the first two diving events at the Paris Games, while Daley claimed his fifth Olympic medal.

Canada didn't have a perfect day. Zsombor-Murray had trouble with his third and fifth dives, while Wiens struggled slightly with the fourth, most difficult dive — 4 1/2 somersaults in tuck position.

"You always think of how it's going to go, you want to go a certain way. And from dive number four, it didn't go that way. I didn't do a good fourth dive — I didn't do a bad fourth dive but I didn't do a good one," he said, adding he was able to set that aside and go on to the next dive.

"It was like, yeah we messed up but we're still in this one, because I know that everyone else is just as nervous and everyone else could have messed up as easily as we have."

Reyes and Valdez also made mistakes, leaving the path clear for Zsombor-Murray and Wiens to climb onto the third step of the podium.

The Canadian duo led by about nine points over the Mexican pair before the last series of dives. Zsombor-Murray and Wiens then pulled off a back 2 1/2 somersaults 1 1/2 twists in pike position, which has a degree of difficulty of 3.2.

Needing more than 88.8 points to reach third place, Reyes and Valdez did a back 2 1/2 somersaults 2 1/2 twists in pike position, which has a degree of difficulty of 3.6. However, they only scored 85.32 points, confirming Canada's bronze.

Reyes and Valdez had a total score of 418.65 points..

"My heart was beating pretty quick," Wiens said. "We saw the scores come in and when they rolled in and we were still in third, I looked at Nathan and he looked at me and, I mean, our reactions — I can't wait to see them because I know it was amazing.

"Just to be able to share that moment with him is going to be something that sticks to my mind for the rest of my life."

Zsombor-Murray said he'd never dreamed of winning an Olympic medal when his father threw him in a public pool in Montreal at the age of five. Wiens, meanwhile, said he had just achieved a longtime dream.

"To be able to say to my younger self that I did that is truly an amazing thing," he said.

Wiens said he was also thinking of his late great aunt, who he described as his greatest fan.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 29, 2024.

Alexis Bélanger-Champagne, The Canadian Press