DIVERS BOOK ANOTHER PLACE IN RIO AS WU FINISHES FIFTH IN PLATFORM

Australia booked itself another place at Rio next year and team captain Melissa Wu finished in fifth place at the women’s platform final at the FINA World Aquatic Championships in Kazan.

Wu just made it into the final in 11th place on Wednesday, but then today held her nerve while others around her crumbled in a high-class event.

North Korea’s Hyang Kuk Kim took a surprise gold with 397.05 points, with China’s Qian Ren recovering from a slow start to finish with silver with 388 points.

Malaysia’s Pandelela Pamg was third with 385.05, while Wu finished with 364.20.

Wu assured Australia would have at least one diver in the women’s platform at next year’s Olympics when she qualified for the final.

Victorian James Connor has guaranteed Australia another place at the Rio Olympics by qualifying in 11th position for the 3-metre springboard final in Kazan.

The 20-year-old left it to his final dive to climb into the top 12, while Australian teammate Grant Nel tumbled out of the top dozen when he missed his final dive.

Connor, who has the busiest program of all the Australians in Kazan, picked up 89.25 points for his final dive to lift him from 13th to 11th, while Nel scored just 38.50 to drop from 12th to 16th.

Chinese divers Yuan Cao and Chao He qualified in first and second place for Friday night’s final.

Connor has been attending college in the United States since his appearance at the London Olympics.

He returned to Australia for the World Championship qualifiers, and dominated the competition, winning the 3-metre and 10-metre titles as well as the synchro events.