Day 7 of Vertical Blue at Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas set six new continental and national records.
Tory George’s New Continental CWT Record
The USA’s Tory George set a new men’s national and continental record in the Constant Weight (CWT) discipline with a dive to 117m/384ft in 3mins 40secs.
In a post-dive interview, George said:
“It felt really good. It felt really good, but it is a long competition, so I am starting to get tired, however there’s one dive day left so I guess I’m going big to just going home or both on the last one.”
George added that he would be going for 120m/394ft for his final attempt later on in the competition.
New Mexican National Records
Mexico’s Pedro Tapia set a new men’s national record with his CWT dive down to 114m/374ft in 3mins 35secs.
He said:
“It felt fantastic. I was actually aiming to do the dive because I wanted tp achieve this number. The progressions during the trainings and the competitions felt really good so I’m not sure if it’s the last constant weight dive in the competition but I’m so happy because it felt fantastic.”
Tapia’s countrywoman Estrella Navarro set a women’s national record in the Constant Weight No Fins (CNF) discipline with her dive to 58m/164ft in 2mins 25secs.
Navarro said:
“I felt relaxed, at the Blue Hole … it started to get darker and darker, and for me it’s a way to relax when the sun is going down and it’s time to sleep, so I relaxed more and more in the depths, and I enjoyed the glide, the moment of arriving [at the bottom plate] and saying ‘OK, I’m here, halfway back.'”
Three More Women’s National Records
Three other women’s national records were set on Day 7:
- Turkey’s Sahika Ercumen dove to 95m/312ft in the CWT discipline with a dive time of 2mins 53secs.
- Japan’s Hanako Hirose dove to 90m/295ft in the Constant Weight with Bifins (CWTB) discipline with a dive time of 3mins 14secs.
- Uruguay’s Vanessa Estol achieved a CWTB national record with her dive to 60m/197ft in 2mins 23secs.
Troubles For Taiwan
Taiwan’s athletes had a rough go on Day 7, with none of the four competing that day getting a white card:
- Yun Chieh Ku was gunning for a 110m/361ft continental record in the Free Immersion (FIM) discipline but suffered a blackout on his way up at the 14m/46ft mark.
- Wen Hsiang Huang was attempting a 77m/253ft national record CNF dive, but got a red card for failing his surface protocol.
- Hou I Ming was going for a 48m/157ft CNF dive but also blacked out on his way up.
- Yi Xian Zhang had targeted a 100m/328ft dive, but got a yellow card for turning back at the 84m/276ft mark.
Other Non-White Cards
- Mexico’s Roberto Guzman also received a yellow card for targeting a 105m/344ft CWT dive but turning back at 81m/266ft.
- Australia’s Amber Bourke got yellow for turning back at 77m/253ft on her announced 81m/266ft CWT dive.
- Germany’s Stefan Randig targeted an 80m/262ft CNF dive but drew a red card for “pulling” at the 50m/164ft mark.
- Belgium’s Marine Simonis had targeted 65m/213ft, but drew yellow for turning back at 43m/141ft.
- Japan’s Junko Kitayama also was gunning for 65m, but got yellow for turning back at 58m/190ft.
Results
Check out the full results below and the video replay of all the day’s dives.
