Gwangju (South Korea) (AFP)
France's Benjamin Auffret finished fifth in the 10m diving final at the World Swimming Championships on Saturday in Gwangju, South Korea, "auspicious" at one year of the 2020 Olympics.
Auffret (24), at the foot of the Olympic podium in 2016 and crowned European champion the following year, totaled 489.20 points.
"I was really solid and consistent, fifth was my best result at Worlds tied with Kazan (in 2015) the year before (the Rio Olympics), and that had been a good omen, Auffret, I'm happy, there are good things + Job done +. "
"I get one of my biggest scores, but with mistakes, my second dive, my favorite, I miss it and I lose 20-25 points over the semifinal. training) that are not ready yet, so I am rather serene, confident, "he continues.
It was the Chinese Jiang Yang, with 598.65 points, which prevailed, in front of another Chinese, Hao Yang (585.75) and the Russian Aleksandr Bondar (541.05).
"The Chinese, when they dive like there, there is no one who can go play with It is necessary to invent a 10.5 to beat them! These are monsters," says Auffret.
The day before, his qualification for the final had opened the doors of the Olympics 2020, his goal N.1. He had taken sixth place (473.70 points) qualifying in the morning, then the eighth in the semifinal (469.20) in the afternoon.
© 2019 AFP