FEDERAL WAY, Wash. (AP) — Chris Colwill rallied from third place to win the men's 3-meter springboard in the U.S. Olympic trials Sunday, while Troy Dumais held off Kristian Ipsen in the final round to finish second and reach his fourth Olympics in the event.
Colwill entered the finals more than 42 points behind Ispen, but was the best of the trio in the finale. He scored at least 74 points on all six of his dives and qualified for his second Olympics in the event. Colwill finished 12th at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
"Competing in the Olympics that definitely was the biggest pressure, but I felt like I did a good job and enjoy myself and have fun and not worry so much about how the event was going to go and embrace the environment," Colwill said.
Entering the final round, the three divers were separated by a mere 2.40 points and all three had their favorite dives for their finale. Colwill scored 99.75, the highest of the competition, on a reverse 3 1/2 somersaults on his final dive that because of a higher degree-of-difficulty than the other two, all but clinched the title.
Dumais moved his signature dive, a forward 2 1/2 somersaults with 2 twists pike, to the final round believing the event could come down to the last dive. The decision was a wise one, with Dumais scoring 91.80 and forcing Ispen to score 93.05 on his final dive to tie. Ipsen's final dive was excellent — a reverse 1 1/2 with 3 1/2 twists — but the 91.80 wasn't enough to overcome Duamis' lead for the second Olympic spot.
Ipsen thought initially it was going to be enough.
"I thought I had made it," Ipsen said.
Ipsen led throughout the entire competition until the fifth-round when his reverse 3 1/2 somersaults came up well short and scored just 47.25 points. His entire lead, which had been slightly chipped in to by both Dumais and Colwill, was gone and an audible gasp came from the crowd when the scoreboard showed Ipsen now in third place.
What appeared to be a competition between Colwill and Dumais for the final qualifying spot suddenly became a three-way race for two trips to London.
"I knew this was going to be a nail-biter. I knew it was and htat's why I switched my list ... knowing it was going to come down to the last dive," Dumais said. "... I would rather put pressure on a dive that I knew I was capable of doing and luckily it panned out. I knew how to do my last dive."
Dumais and Ipsen already had their tickets for London winning the 3-meter synchro title. Colwill, who is 60 percent hearing impaired, was left with the 3-meter as his hope for going to a second straight Olympics. His key dive came in the fourth round when he scored 85.00 on a reverse 1 1/2 with 3 1/2 twists.
"I missed that big time in prelims and the reason why I was struggling behind trying to keep up with the pack," Colwill said. "I need to make sure that was going to go down solid."