On the final day of the Japan Diving Championships held in Utsunomiya City, the men's high school diving final was held on the 7th, and Rikuto Tamai, who won the silver medal at the world championships in this event, was more than 80 points behind the second place. He showed an overwhelming performance to put on and won the 4th consecutive victory.
The Japan Diving Championships opened in Utsunomiya City on the 5th, and Tamai, who won the silver medal in this event at the World Championships, participated in the final of the men's high school diving held on the 7th, the final day of the tournament.
In the final, he took a positive step in his third performance and scored 88.80 with a 109C that turned four and a half forwards.
In the 6th performance, he took off backwards, turned backwards twice and a half times, and twisted twice and a half times. They won four consecutive victories by a large margin.
2nd place went to Shu Okubo, who was 12th in this event at the World Championships, and Kai Kaneto was 3rd.
In addition, Yuka Mabuchi, who announced her return to active duty in January, participated in the final of the women's 1-meter board diving, which is not an Olympic event, and showed stable performance in all five times, marking 242.90 for the first time in seven years. We won the championship for the third time.
Rikuto Tamai "I came with the feeling that I would definitely win"
Rikuto Tamai, who won four straight high diving titles, said, “I finished third in the board diving yesterday, so I went into the match with the determination to win the championship today. I did."
On the other hand, regarding his performance in the finals, he said, "I didn't feel much of a response. In the preliminary rounds, I was able to perform with a higher score. I got a high score in the finals, but I wasn't able to perform well. It was a state that I could not convince.
As for the future, he said, "While working hard for the Paris Olympics, I would like to do my best with the dual wielding of diving and jumping. I will use my victory in the high diving as confidence, and next time I will also win the diving. I want to do my best,” he renewed his determination.
Yuka Mabuchi "There is room for further growth"
Yuka Mabuchi, who won the 1-meter diving board, said, "I'm happy to have won the tournament for the first time in seven years, but my goal was to have a dynamic performance. That's one more step. I wanted it, so I feel frustrated," he said.
On top of that, he looked ahead, saying, "I found a lot of things to fix, so I feel that I have more room to improve. I want to do my best for the next time."