Krysta Palmer, near, finishes a dive during the synchronized competition Monday at the 2024 USA Olympic Diving Trials. Thursday afternoon, Palmer competed in the individual 3-meter springboard event where she was fourth after the semifinal. The 2020 Olympic bronze medalist will need to be top two in the individual event to qualify for another Olympic games.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Krysta Palmer breezed into the finals of the US Olympic women’s diving trials Thursday afternoon in the 3-meter individual springboard.
A total of 17 entrants competed in the prelims and semifinals with 12 qualifying for the finals Saturday at 4 p.m. PST.
Palmer finished in fourth place with 299.30 points, leaving her some with a little bit of ground to cover in order to finish top two and secure a second straight bid to the summer Olympic Games.
STRONG FINSH
Palmer’s scored 49.5 points on her first dive of the semifinal round, putting her in 11th place after her opening mark.
However, the Douglas High School alumna gained ground on the field through her next four dives.
Her third dive – a reverse two-and-half somersaults from pike – was one of her best of the day, scoring 67.5 points jumping her from her from 10th to sixth.
Of all the divers that attempted the same dive, Palmer posted the second highest score on that specific attempt.
She followed with a 55.8 in her fourth dive, but her highest scoring dive was her final attempt of the evening.
Palmer’s double out – a forward two-and-a-half somersaults with two twists – earned her 68 points in her last dive of Thursday’s competition.
The high-scoring dive moved her from eighth place up to fourth.
Sarah Bacon, who qualified for the Olympics in the 3-meter synchronized springboard Monday, was the leader following the semifinal Thursday with a total score of 341.25.
In second place after the semifinal round was Palmer’s synchro teammate, Alison Gibson.
Gibson had three strong dives posting scores of 66, 67.5 and 69.7 en route to finishing the evening with a score of 317.70.
Palmer trails her teammate by 18.4 points for the second Olympic qualifying spot.
Sophie Verzyl was in third with 313.55 points.
In the preliminaries earlier in the day, Palmer finished her five-dive set with 284.70 points. Palmer, who attempted the same dive order earlier in the day, scored higher in four of her five semifinal dives compared to her preliminary scores.
With a limit number of divers this year, the preliminary round was only used to set the order for the semifinals. No divers were eliminated following the prelims.
Complete coverage of Palmer’s final round can be found online Saturday at www.nevadaappeal.com/news/sports.
