KUALA LUMPUR – National diver Bertrand Rhodict Lises has decided to forgo two World Cup Diving 2024 competitions in order to focus on increasing the difficulty of his dives at the Paris Olympic Games in July.
Bertrand, the country’s only diver qualified for the Olympics, said he will miss the next two World Cup stops – Berlin on March 21 to 24 and the super final in Xi’an on April 19 to 21.
Malaysia Swimming Federation diving technical director Bryan Nickson Lomas has decided to increase the difficulty level of his dives from 3.0 to 3.7 by introducing the routine pike.
“I will not be going to two World Cup events for fear of not having enough time to increase the difficulty level of my dives. The 3.0 to 3.7 move requires switching from the back 3 1/2 routine to pike, which I only began learning on my return to Malaysia last Wednesday,” he said.
Bertrand, 19, finished 10th out of 11 divers in the men’s 10m platform final with 389.85 points at the World Cup Diving 2024 in Montreal on March 2.
China’s Yao Hang won the event by amassing 533 points, followed by Mexico’s Randal Willards Valdez in second place (530.90 points) and China’s Lian Junjie in third place (514.65 points).
Bertrand admitted that he was disappointed with his performance in Montreal.
“That was the first time I dipped below 400 (points) so I’m not satisfied. But the outing in Canada was a good experience because all the finalists were really good, as some are former Olympics (champs),” he said.
Meanwhile, Bryan, a former national diver, said he is still waiting for a positive reply from several countries that Bertrand had applied to train with to prepare for the Olympics.
“However, he needs to fully recover from his recurring wrist injury before going for the overseas stint next month. The National Sports Institute says he will take a few weeks to recover,” he said.
Asked whether Bertrand could adapt to the higher routine, Bryan said it would take time but is confident that the Sarawak-born athlete could do it.
“It (changing routine) is a process and will take time. He risks injuring himself in another area if we rush him into it,” he said.
The Olympic Games will be held from July 26 to Aug 11. – March 12, 2024