15-year-old Rikuto Tamai won the silver medal in the final of the world championship diving and men's high diving.
After the Tokyo Olympics, Tamai has been honing his skills while facing his own physical growth.
Tamai took the lead for a while by scoring a high score of 99.90 by scoring "109C", which was a four-and-a-half turn before taking a positive step in the third round of the final.
After finishing the 5th performance, he finished 4th, but in the final 6th performance, he took a backward turn and twisted two and a half times to mark 95.40 with "5255B", which was a total of 488.00 and won a silver medal. did.
This is the first time a Japanese player has won a medal in this event's world championship.
The gold medal was 515.55 for the silver medal Yang Jian of China at the Tokyo Olympics, and the bronze medal was 485.45 for the Chinese player.
15 years old The best start while facing the growth of one's own body
Tamai, who became a high school student this spring, entered a period of full-scale growth, and even after the Tokyo Olympics, he grew 5 centimeters to 1 meter 60 centimeters and weighed 5 kilograms to 55 kilograms. ..
Coach Takahide Mabuchi, who has been coaching Tamai since he was in elementary school, said, "In a dive, your body will grow a little and you will lose your balance. Looking ahead to next year's Paris Olympics, it is a very important time to build your body. I have the idea that how you face your body affects your competitive life.
Under these circumstances, Tamai's focus has been on strengthening the lower body.
As my body grows larger, I am trying to strengthen my legs, saying that it is necessary to increase the height in order to make the time to enter the water as long as possible.
Right next to the pool in Takarazuka City, Hyogo Prefecture, which is the training base, we set up a training room exclusively for Tamai, and increased the strength training from once a week to three times a week.
Tamai said, "If you can get the strength and height, you can afford to rotate in the air or enter the water."
In addition, by repeating the practice of putting a weight on the waist and somersaulting, and gaining the sensation of rotating quickly, I have been able to firmly control my enlarged body even in the air.
Coach Mabuchi said, "Until the Tokyo Olympics, I felt like a" boy ", but from now on, I need to have the presence of an" adult "with power and speed. I feel that I have matured from the Tokyo Games. I was talking about the response.
Regarding this world championship, Tamai was enthusiastic, "I hope that my physical strength and strength will grow the most and I can make a good start dash as the first step toward the medal at the Paris Olympics, which will reach its peak."
We got off to a great start by breaking into the powerful Chinese and winning a silver medal.