It’s been a challenging couple years for Canadian diver Rylan Wiens.
After making his Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 and then enjoying a successful 2022 season, Wiens suffered a neck injury in the spring of 2023 and was unable to compete in the individual event at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships. It’s that adversity that made Wiens – despite missing the podium in the event at Paris 2024 – more than pleased with his performance.
“I’m just incredibly proud. That’s all I can say,” Wiens told CBC following Saturday’s final round of dives. “I know it didn’t end exactly the way I wanted to, in a fairy tale ending. But from the last Olympics, coming 19th, to the injury that I had last year taking me out of the world championships, it was a struggle to come back and it was a struggle to get back in the elite mentality.”
READ: Wiens and Zsombor-Murray ready to dive for the podium again at Paris 2024
Wiens finished seventh in the men’s 10m platform final, an impressive improvement from Tokyo where he wasn’t able to reach the semifinals. He isn’t heading home without a medal though, having won bronze in the men’s 10m synchro with Nathan Zsombor-Murray.
Wiens said the fact that he’s leaving Paris with a medal does take some of the sting off his Saturday result. He noted he hasn’t thought much about his bronze medal since the synchro event.
“But now I can, you know, I can be very proud of seventh place in the Olympics and also go home with a medal. So it is easier, I think, to accept not getting any medal [today].”
Wiens got off to strong start in the final. After a small miss on his first dive, he rebounded by scoring 88.80 on a forward 4 1/2 somersaults tuck followed by a 90.10 on a reverse 3 1/2 somersaults tuck, pushing the Canadian into bronze medal position. On his fourth dive, an armstand back double somersault with 2 1/2 twists, Wiens recorded a 70.20 score, sliding him into fourth.
It was Wiens’ fifth dive, a back 3 1/2 somersaults in a tuck position, that proved costly for the 22-year-old. A score of 42.90 all but ended his podium chances.
“The Olympic Games is the highest level of competition,” Wiens told media after the event. “I felt like I started off amazing with the first three dives, putting myself in that contention like I wanted to. Fourth and fifth dives, I just faltered a little bit. But, just to say that I put myself in contention after the first three, that’s how I want to start. I’m really proud of my overall performance.
“After the fourth one, I knew I was still in contention for the medals, but just had a lot of adrenaline, a little bit too high where I kicked my toes and unfortunately I wasn’t able to recover after that.”
Wiens rebounded with his sixth and final dive, scoring a 76.80 on a back 2 1/2 somersaults with 1 1/2 twists pike, to finish with a total score of 445.60.
“After the fifth dive, I knew I was not in the medal contention anymore and I just went up there on my last dive and just kind of took it all in, looked at the crowd, experienced the whole atmosphere and everything and let that pressure kind of subside off my shoulders and just live it for what it was,” Wiens added to CBC.
READ: Wiens & Zsombor-Murray dive to bronze in men’s 10m synchro at Paris 2024
Zsombor-Murray also competed in the final, posting a total score of 404.90 to finish 10th. He had a strong first dive, scoring an 83.20 on an inward 3 1/2 somersaults tuck, but couldn’t maintain that level of performance through the six rounds. Still, it’s an improvement over the 21-year-old’s 13th-place finish in Tokyo.
Both Canadians qualified for the final after taking part in the semifinals earlier in the day.
Wiens easily earned a semifinal spot, finishing fifth with a total score of 468.40. This came a day after Wiens posted the third best score in the preliminary round.
Zsombor-Murray, meanwhile, sat 13th entering the sixth and final round of dives and, with only the top 12 advancing to the final, needed a solid last attempt to move on. In the sixth round, Zsombor-Murray had one of his best dives, scoring an 80.00 on his back 2 1/2 somersaults 1 1/2 twists in a pike position to push him into 10th.
This was the final event on the diving calendar at Paris 2024. China’s Cao Yuan won the gold, Rikuto Tamai of Japan took silver and Great Britain’s Noah Williams grabbed the bronze.
