Tucson's Delaney Schnell takes bronze, snaps Americans' drought at World Diving Championships

GWANGJU, South Korea — Delaney Schnell won a bronze medal at the FINA World Championships on Wednesday, snapping a 15-year drought by American 10-meter divers at one of the world’s largest events.

Schnell, an Arizona Wildcats diver who attended Tucson High, finished with a score of 364.20 points. China’s Chen Yuxi won gold with a score of 439.00, and countrywoman Lu Wei finished second at 377.80.

Schnell is the first American woman to medal on platform events at the world championships since 2005, when Laura Wilkinson won gold. Schnell will now travel to Lima, Peru, for the Pan American Games, which run through Aug. 11. She’ll then return to the UA for the start of her junior year. Schnell was named an All-American in three events last year, placed fourth in platform at the NCAAs and was in the top five in all three at the Pac-12 Championships.

Those competitions undoubtedly helped her prepare for the world championships.

Schnell was in sixth place after two rounds, then vaulted to third with a score of 82.50 on her third dive. Schnell said the back 3ƒ-tuck dive is “one of my struggle dives.”

“That’s the one, when I hit that, I was like ‘Oh my gosh.’ That was such a sigh of relief. It’s definitely one that I have to work harder on,” Schnell said. “Normally I’m not aware, but when I hit my third dive, my back 3ƒ, I knew that I was in the race after seeing where I was placed. Then it was just keeping myself calm, not trying too hard.”

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Schnell’s fourth dive scored 70.50 points and dropped her to fifth place. Her final dive was significantly better, netting her 76.80 points; Schnell finished third by four points.

Schnell credited Dwight Dumais, her UA coach and a member of the U.S. coaching staff, for keeping her calm. The relationship between Dumais and Schnell was “the backbone of her re-finding her passion,” UA coach Augie Busch told the Star last week. “(Dumais) has completely rejuvenated her.”

Dumais and Schnell spent most of the last season focusing on her breathing, and how to stay calm during stressful meets. Schnell said Wednesday that Dumais “is really good about telling me how to stay calm, because with a final like this there’s a lot of adrenaline and it’s very easy to overthrow and try too hard on dives.”

“It was really just trying to keep myself calm,” Schnell said.

Dumais is accompanying Schnell to both South Korea and Peru. Busch will join the two in South America.

Schnell’s medal was the fourth won by U.S. divers at the world championships, which continue through July 24.