An unusual season came to a close Thursday for Riley McCormick at the 2013 FINA world aquatics championships in Barcelona.
Unable to compete in his 10-metre specialty 鈥� in which he was top-10 at both the 2009 Rome and 2011 Shanghai world championships and a finalist in at the 2012 London Olympics 鈥� the Victoria diver placed 21st on the three-metre springboard in Barcelona.
鈥淚t felt really, really weird. I felt like the new kid on the block all over again,鈥� McCormick said by phone from Spain.
鈥淚鈥檝e had to reinvent myself.鈥�
McCormick was unable to compete in the 10-metre because recent surgery on his left hand to repair ligament damage left him unable to perform the handstands used in some 10-metre dives. So the Claremont Secondary graduate and Arizona State University NCAA student/athlete sprang to the springboard this year, winning the Canadian one-metre and three-metre championships to qualify for the worlds in both events, although another injury kept him out of the one-metre competition earlier in the week.
鈥淚 started from scratch [on the springboard] and had no expectations,鈥� said McCormick.
鈥淚 felt like I was at my first world championships. There were the top 46 springboard guys in the world and I was in the top half. If I stuck with [springboard], I definitely see the finals in the future.鈥�
But that future, whether on the tower or springboard, has become more complicated with the 21-year-old McCormick considering law school while his third Olympics also beckon.
鈥淓veryone wants to compete in the Olympics. I鈥檒l see if I can juggle both [law school and Rio 2016],鈥� he said, about a diving career that has clearly reached a crossroads.
Also Thursday, Roseline Filion of Laval, Que., was eighth in the women鈥檚 10-metre diving final, and sa国际传媒 also finished eighth in the synchronized swimming free duet.
McCormick was the latest Islander to hit the water in Barcelona after Eric Hedlin won a breakthrough silver medal in the open-water 5K and London Olympics bronze-medallist and fellow-Victorian Richard Weinberger placed fifth in the 10K after missing a turn around a buoy.
Two-time Olympic-medallist Ryan Cochrane of Victoria begins his triple-threat quest in the 400-, 800- and 1,500-metre freestyles when pool swimming begins Sunday with the 400 freestyle prelims and final.
Sportsnet will broadcast a daily one-hour highlights package from the pool, beginning Sunday at 8 p.m. Pacific.
