Oleksii Sereda Finishes Fourth at the Diving World Cup Super Final: How He Got There
Oleksii Sereda and Mark Hrytsenko wrap up Ukraine's events at the World Cup Super Final.
Oleksii Sereda finished fourth in the individual 10m platform event at the World Cup Super Final in diving, held May 4 in Beijing, China. Mark Hrytsenko also competed in the super final alongside him, finishing 11th.
Sereda and Hrytsenko's performance in the individual 10m platform event marked the national team's final event at the World Cup Super Final. Earlier, Stanislav Oliferchyk and Kirill Boliukh were first to compete, in the 3m event, finishing seventh. Women's 10m synchronized divers Kseniia Bailo and Sofiia Lyskun placed higher, finishing fifth.
brought Ukraine its first medal in Beijing — bronze in the 10m synchronized event, with a personal best score. Later, the mixed team also won silver in the 3m springboard and 10m platform events.
The individual 10m platform event, meanwhile, followed a different format than the regular season. In the first round, athletes performed three dives head-to-head in pairs, after which two semifinal groups of three formed. From each semifinal's three divers, the top two advanced to the final, after which those remaining competed for the medals.
How Qualifying for the World Cup Super Final in Diving Went for Oleksii Sereda and Mark Hrytsenko
- In the first round, the Ukrainians were seeded against each other — based on the results of the two stages in Guadalajara and Windsor, Oleksii Sereda ranked fourth, and Mark Hrytsenko ninth.
- In their head-to-head matchup, the Ukrainians were evenly matched, but judges determined Sereda's performance was the 'cleaner' one — 249.00 points against Hrytsenko's 185.50. Sereda advanced to the first semifinal, joining China's Cheng Zilong and Mexico's Jorge Rodriguez Ledesma.
- Oleksii Sereda saved the most difficult dives in his program for the semifinal — performing the first, with a 3.7 degree of difficulty, for 94.35 points, and the second and third, with degrees of difficulty of 3.4 and 3.6 respectively, for 83.30 and 97.20 points (his best result of the year).
- As a result, the Ukrainian won his semifinal and advanced to the final alongside three other athletes from China and Australia.
How the Fight for Medals at the World Cup Super Final Ended for Oleksii Sereda
- In the final, unlike the semifinal stage, all athletes started from zero. The task was to complete all six dives of their program.
- After the first climb to the platform, Oleksii Sereda sat in fourth place — performing his simplest dive for 72 points. His second dive, the most difficult, moved him up to third place. He held that position after his third dive as well.
- In the final's fourth dive, all athletes performed the same dive — a forward three-and-a-half somersault in the pike position. Oleksii Sereda couldn't enter the water cleanly, dropping him back to last place.
- With his fifth dive, the Ukrainian fought his way back into contention — narrowing his gap to Australia's Rousseau to 15 points. But on the final dive, Rousseau scored 90 points, securing bronze for himself and leaving Oleksii off the podium.
World Cup Super Final in Diving. 10m Platform. Men
- Zhu Zifeng (China) - 571.90 points
- Cheng Zilong (China) - 542.30
- Cassiel Rousseau (Australia) - 499.65
- Oleksii Sereda (Ukraine) - 484.05
...
11. Mark Hrytsenko (Ukraine) - 185.50
The Ukrainian divers' next competition will be the European Championships, taking place May 22-28 in Antalya, Turkey.