Diver Wu reaches fourth Olympic 10m final
Australian diver Melissa Wu has advanced to the final of the women's 10-metre platform event for a fourth consecutive Olympics, finishing fifth in the semi-final in Tokyo.
Wu, who was aged 16 when she collected a silver medal in the synchronised 10m final at Beijing 2008, underlined her credentials for a first individual Olympic medal with a series of impressive dives on Thursday morning.
The 29-year-old, comfortably the most experienced member of Australia's diving team at these Games, will be one of 12 competitors in the medal-deciding contest that begins at 4pm AEST on Thursday.
Wu was in danger of missing the cut after her opening dive in the semi, a forward three-and-a-half somersaults in the pike position, was given a score of 61.5.
But the veteran claimed fifth spot on the leaderboard after her second dive, an armstand back double somersault with one and a half twists, and remained in that position throughout the rest of the semi.
Wu was awarded a total of 334.5 points from her five dives.
Quan Hongchan (415.65) and Chen Yuxi (407.75) will be favoured to take out gold and silver for China after excelling throughout the semi.
But the margin between Wu, third-placed American Delaney Schnell (342.75) and fourth-placed Mexican Gabriela Agundez Garcia (337.3) was much smaller in the semi.
Wu has reached the 10m platform final at every Olympics she has competed at. She finished sixth at Beijing 2008, fourth in the London Games then fifth at Rio 2016.
