Diving’s Moon Na-yoon and Cho Eun-bi miss out on 10m platform prelims
South Korean artistic swimmers LEE Ri-young (Busan Swimming Federation) and HEU Yoon-seo (Apgu Jeong-go) failed to qualify for the final in the duet free at the 2023 International Swimming Federation World Championships.
Lee and Heo finished 13th out of 36 teams with 169.6645 points in the women’s artistic swimming duet free preliminaries at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships at Fukuoka Marine Messe Fukuoka Hall in Fukuoka, Japan, on Aug. 18.
They narrowly missed out on a ticket to the final, which is awarded to the top 12 qualifying teams. They were separated by just 3.3604 points from Sofia Malkogiorgiou-Evangelia Platanioti (GRE), who finished 12th with 173.0249 points.
The duo also failed to make the final in the duet technical on Thursday, finishing 13th in qualifying.
Despite their disappointment in the duet event, Lee and Heo Yoon-seo made their mark in the solo event.
Lee finished eighth in her solo technical qualification, qualifying for her second consecutive World Championships final after last year’s Budapest event. In the final, she finished ninth, tying her for Korea’s highest-ever placement in a World Championships artistic swimming solo event.
The best result by a South Korean artistic swimmer in a solo event at a World Championships is ninth place, achieved by Choi Yoo-jin at the 1998 Games in Perth, Australia.
Heo qualified for the final with a fourth-place finish in the women’s solo free. She will compete in the final on the afternoon of the 19th.
In the women’s 10-meter platform diving, Moon Na-yoon (Jeju Island) and Cho Eun-bi (Incheon Metropolitan City) were both eliminated in their respective heats.
Moon finished 23rd out of 36 competitors in the morning heats with a total of 257.55 points in heats 1-5.
Cho Eun-bi finished 30th with a total of 240.50 points.
In the women’s 10-meter platform, the top 18 qualifiers will compete in the semifinals.
Moon Na-yoon and Cho Eun-bi, 스포츠토토 who competed in the women’s synchro 10-meter platform final earlier in the day, finished 11th.