Polyakova Breaks Through at FINA Worlds
July 25, 2017 | Swimming & Diving
LOS ANGELES – The 17th FINA World Championships have once again welcomed the top athletes in the world for its biennial showcase, and UCLA's Maria Polyakova was on hand to participate in her third straight diving competition. Polyakova shined, reaching three final rounds for the first time in her FINA Worlds career, including her first in the 3-meter competition.
The divers rang in the Budapest, Hungary-hosted championships on the first day of competition July 14, as they sprang off the 1-meter in the preliminary round. Polyakova posted scores of 54.60 and 55.90 on her final two dives—the third and fifth best efforts, respectively, of the 42 participants competing. Her sixth-place finish planted her firmly in the top 12 to cement a trip to the next day's finals. There, Polyakova posted one of the three best dives on each of her final three attempts, including a best-for-last 62.40 on 5134D.
Maria Polyakova notched an international PR of 289.05 and a fifth-place finish in the 1-meter at @finabp2017. Way to go, Masha! #GoBruins pic.twitter.com/MWnl2mHdHj
— UCLA Swim And Dive (@UCLASwimAndDive) July 15, 2017
Polyakova's total score of 289.05 marked a FINA Worlds personal best for the rising senior. The 2016 Pac-12 champion in the 1-meter previously finished in ninth place, at 255.20, at her 2015 homecoming in Kazan, Russia. She debuted with a preliminary-round score of 215.45 in 2013, and was unable to advance to the final round.
The reigning Pac-12 3-meter champion needed nearly every one of her 288.75 points to move past the qualifying round of the FINA 3-meter competition on Wednesday, July 19. Polyakova followed up her highest-scored dive of the week (69.75 on 107B) with her lowest-scored one (39.00 on 305B) to put the pressure on going into her final dive. She came through, though, scoring 58.50 on 405B to secure a semifinal spot by 3.65 points. Once there, Polyakova thrived, earning marks of at least 63.00 on each of her first three dives. Her 65.10 on 107B put her in sixth place and she cruised into the final. The championship round proved much the same, as a 68.20 on 107B in the third round of dives was one of four scored at 63.00 or higher. Polyakova just missed cracking the 300.00 mark, scoring 299.20 to come in ninth.
The 3-meter performance marked a milestone for Polyakova, who came in at just 229.05 in the preliminary round of the FINA World Championships in 2013. Two years later, she failed to qualify.
The duo of Polyakova and Ilia Molchanov returned for its second consecutive mixed 3-meter synchro final on Saturday, July 22 and, despite a slow start, rallied with scores of 58.50 (205B), 56.73 (107B) and a competition-best mark for the pair of 64.80 (5152B) to lock in yet another top-10 finish at 270.63. The mark was just enough to hold off the hard-charging and high-scoring Ukrainians and Americans. Those teams finished tied for 10th at 270.06.
Polyakova was the lone NCAA diver in the 1-meter final. She was joined by Julia Vincent (South Carolina) in the 3-meter championship round, where the South African diver came in at 265.90 to finish 12th. Australian Maddison Keeney, who won the 1-meter with a score of 314.95, was the only other diver to qualify for both finals.
Players Mentioned
