May 5, 2011

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Brittany Viola qualified for the World Championships Thursday, May 5, finishing fifth in the semifinals of the Women’s 10-meter platform at the AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix housed at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatics Complex in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The Grand Prix is also being used to select the U.S. team in the individual events for this summer’s World Championships. Troy Dumais (Ventura, Calif.) and Kristian Ipsen (Clayton, Calif.) earned spots in 3-meter, and Jessica Parratto (Dover, N.H./Indianapolis, Ind.) and Viola qualified for the world team on 10-meter.

While diving in rain, Viola banked her two best dives in the semis on her third and fourth dives, respectively. She connected on an Armstand Back 2 Somersault 1 1/2 Twist Free for a score of 67.20 (second dive), before bouncing back for a score of 73.95 – her highest of the day – on her next dive, a Back 2 1/2 Somersault Pike.

China’s Hu Yadan (387.30) won the semifinal, and Italy’s Noemi Batki (317.30) also moved on to the finals.

Viola finished fifth in the semifinal and did not advance, but she was still pleased to qualify for worlds after placing sixth in the preliminaries.

“Everything has been so unexpected, first winning nationals to qualify for this meet and then qualifying for the World Championships – this was nothing I had in my foresight. I’m extremely excited,” said Viola, who had been away from competition for a year and a half while recovering from two foot surgeries.

The World Championships team members were selected based on a portion of scores from the USA Diving Winter National Championships and the Grand Prix preliminaries.

The AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix continues through Sunday. Friday’s competition begins at 10 a.m., with women’s 3-meter preliminaries and semifinals. Men’s 10-meter preliminaries start at 3 p.m.

For Team USA divers, the AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix will also serve as the final phase in the selection process to determine the divers who will represent the United States in the individual Olympic events at the FINA World Championships in July. Divers were selected to the Grand Prix team based on results at February’s USA Diving Winter National Championships. For selection purposes, 50 percent of a diver’s cumulative score from the winter nationals quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will be added to the preliminary score at the Grand Prix, and the two divers with the highest scores on each 3-meter and 10-meter event will be selected to the World Championships team. USA Diving will select the rosters for the 1-meter and synchronized events at a separate trials event May 12-15 in Tallahassee, Fla.

Women’s Platform
Semifinal A (Top 3 advance to finals)
1. YADAN Hu, China, 387.30;2. Jessica PARRATTO, United States, 339.30;3. Noemi BATKI, Italy, 317.30;4. Alejandra OROZCO LOZA, Mexico, 304.80;5. Brittany Viola, United States, 290.55;6. Elina EGGERS, Sweden, 279.25;

Semifinal B (Top 3 advance to finals)
1. RUOLIN Chen, China, 373.75;2. Brittany BROBEN, Australia, 351.00;3. Nora SUBSCHINSKI, Germany, 330.75;4. Christin STEUER, Germany, 328.00;5. Iuliia PROKOPCHUK, Ukraine, 319.45;6. Hannah THEK, Australia, 310.15;

Cut after preliminaries
12. Katherine BELL, United States, 303.85; 14. Mai NAKAGAWA, Japan, 281.95;15. Carol-Ann WARE, Canada, 272.25;16. Celina TOTH, Canada, 270.40;17. Carolina MURILLO, Colombia, 269.60;18. Natali CRUZ, Brazil, 255.70;19. Karla Elizabeth RIVAS, Mexico, 246.20;20. Anna JAMES, United States, 245.25;21. Nicoli CRUZ, Brazil, 234.55;22. Julia LONNEGREN, Sweden, 228.30;23. Angely MARTINEZ, Puerto Rico, 165.35;24. Dina mohamed FOUAD SHENESHAN, Egypt, 129.85.