ANOTHER SILVER FOR AUSTRALIAN SYNCHRO TEAM

Australian divers Samantha Mills and Esther Qin have once again finished second behind China at a diving World Series event, but the gap is closing.

Zi He and Han Wang won gold in the 3-metre synchro in Merida, Mexico, with the Australians just 11.10 points behind.

Last weekend in Canada the gap between the two teams was 14.70.

“We’re not that far behind the Chinese,” Mills said.

“The more training we do together the closer we’ll get. We’ll go back home for three weeks and then I’ll go to Sydney and train with Esther for a couple of weeks before Worlds.”

The outdoor pool provided challenging conditions for the divers, with a fluky breeze causing problems for some of the competitors.

The Australians rarely train at outdoor pools, but Qin says they adapted well.

“It was hard, but you try not to think about it,” she said.

“The Rio venue is outdoors, so it would be ideal to train in the outdoors. The new Gold Coast venue is outdoors.”

Most of the top synchro teams in the world have been competing at the World Series in Canada and Mexico, giving the Australians confidence ahead of the World Championships in Kazan.

Although they’ve been competing together for less than 12 months, and living in different Australian cities, Mills and Qin have chalked up three silver medals against top-class competition.

They’ve already talked about one of the divers relocating before Rio, but the immediate focus is on Kazan.

“I think we’ll go in their pretty confident, knowing we’ve beaten most of the best teams in the world,” Mills said.

“We’re feeling more relaxed and less nervous with every competition.”