PARIS — The Canadian duo of Nathan Zsombor-Murray and Rylan Wiens have captured Olympic bronze in the men’s synchronized 10m platform dive.
Zsombor-Murray and Wiens, who also took bronze at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, scored 422.13 points over six dives to finish third behind China and Great Britain.
The pair had been tied for second after two dives, but fell back to third following strong performances from Great Britain, who finished with 463.44 points. China, who maintained a comfortable lead from the first dive, scored 490.35 points.
In the synchronized 10m platform dive, there is just a single round of competition with eight pairs of divers who perform six different dives.
Wiens, from Pike Lake, Sask., learned how to dive in his grandfather’s pool when he was three and swimming with water wings. He won his first Junior National title at age 10 and made his Olympic debut at the 2020 Games in Tokyo, competing in the individual 10m platform dive, where he finished 19th.
Going into these Games, Wiens was upfront about his goal to medal. “I know it is definitely within my capability,” he said in an interview for University of Saskatchewan communications, where he studies kinesiology. “Preparations are going really well and I have been diving and training consistently for the past couple of months, so I am really happy with where I am at right now and I am just going to give it my all.”
Quebec’s Zsombor-Murray also made his Olympic debut in Tokyo, finishing fifth in the 10m synchro event with partner Vincent Riendeau (who retired after Tokyo) and taking 13th place in the individual event, just missing the finals.
Wiens and Zsombor-Murray reportedly almost made their international synchro debut in Tokyo when Riendeau became injured two days before competition.
“We were scrambling because we needed someone to do synchro and so Nathan and I had to throw together a synchro list because someone had to be ready to compete the next day,” Wiens told Diving Plongeon Canada in 2022. “It was pretty crazy, and just another bit of a roller-coaster that’s part of the Olympics. It was cool, but also a little bit nerve wracking. At the end of the day, I didn’t compete, but it was an exciting experience to go out there and do a whole synchro list and do it pretty well with Nathan.”
Next week, Wiens and Zsombor-Murray will transition from teammates to competitors as they face off in the individual 10m platform preliminaries on Aug. 9 starting at 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET).
All diving events are taking place in the 6,000-seat capacity Olympic Aquatics Centre, which is one of two permanent sports facilities built for the Paris Games. The venue will also play host to artistic swimming and the preliminary rounds for men’s and women’s water polo.