Frank Abel and his trainer, Daylet

Havana, Nov 25 (JIT) - Cuban Frank Abel Rosales finished ninth among the 40 competitors in the preliminary phase and will compete for the medals in the three-meter springboard diving event at the World Junior Diving Championships in Rio de Janeiro 2024, in Brazil.

The Matanzas native, who participates in the 16-18 years old category, completed 457.85 units and secured his place in the first of the two finals he has set as a goal, after failing to advance to that stage two years ago, during his debut in these competitions.

With a program that includes five compulsory jumps and the same number of free jumps -required in competitions for this age group-, Rosales made his debut with several jumps with a high degree of difficulty and can be pleased with his debut in Rio de Janeiro.

"Above all, he was calm, concentrated and focused on the competition," coach Daylet Valdés, who accompanied him during his debut in a long event that lasted almost five hours, told JIT.

Scores that always "moved" between 6.5 and 7.5 points marked the judges' evaluations on this occasion. However, in the final he will have to improve his performances, especially with the three-and-a-half backflip in position C, with which he barely scored three points in the qualifying segment.

China's Xin Yan achieved the best performance in the phase, by accumulating 524.85 points. Together with Frank Abel, Mexico's David Gabriel Vázquez (457.90) and Colombia's Miguel Esteban Tovar (455.55) will represent Latin America in the prize distribution.