Day 2 at the junior worlds did not produce any medals for the U.S., but the team did pick up two top-six finishes. In the Group A (16-18) 1-meter final, Gracia Leydon-Mahoney finished fifth, equaling her best finish from 2010 when she was fifth on platform in the 14-15 age group. Jessica Parratto, the second U.S. entry in the field, finished in 19th.
China went 1-2 in the event and the bronze was picked up by Brittany Broben, proving she is as adept on springboard as well as platform. As you may recall, Broben was the silver medalist in London on platform!
In the Group B (14-15) girl's platform, Delaney Schnell finished sixth with teammate Ezster Pryor just missing finals in 13th. The final event of the day was the Group A/B synchronized springboard where Steele Johnson and Jack Nyquist appeared to struggle a bit, finishing in ninth.
Nyquist was a last minute replacement for Dashiell Enos who was suffering from the flu. Not to make excuses, but I doubt that Johnson and Nyquist had worked together as much as the original team.
The Group A/B allows any divers 14-18 to team up for the competition. The event was won by a pretty powerful team made up of Tom Daley and Jack Laugher from Great Britain. Laugher competed in London on springboard and Daley was the bronze medalist on platform.
By the way, if you are looking at the Group A & B designation and are wondering what that is all about, here is a good explanation.
What is interesting to note is the success of the home country. Australia earned two silver medals at the 2010 championships - Brittany Broben on platform and Anna Gelai on springboard, and already they have three medals in the first two days. Now is it that the Australian junior divers have become that much better since 2010, or is it that they are that much more comfortable in their own country?
Australia has a great infrastructure for junior diving, so it's no surprise that they are doing well. But I don't think that it is off base to suggest that the home town advantage does have an impact. Of course, that theory could fall flat on its face if they don't win any more medals so we will just need to wait and see.
If you are counting medals, it's China with 7, Australia with 3, Great Britain and Russia with 2, and Mexico with 1.
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