Nick Greenizan
Black Press
A new dive turned into a golden moment for West Vancouver diver Alison Komlos during the BC Winter Games Friday afternoon at Langley’s Walnut Grove Community Centre.
Komlos, a 12-year-old member of the North Shore Dolphins swim club, ran away with a gold medal in the girls ‘C’ division one-metre diving competition , finishing with a 285.00 score in the final round.
The Zone 5 (Vancouver-Squamish) diver’s score was 26.4 points better than second place diver Jessie Nowotny of Zone 3 (Fraser Valley).
While many of her dives in the final round had a higher degree of difficulty than some of her competitors, one in particular set her apart, according to her coach, Kostya Karibyan.
Komlos – who has competed at age-group nationals in the past – completed a forward one-and-a-half somersault with a full twist.
“She did all very hard dives,” Karibyan said. “But that one, for her, is new. It’s a very difficult one. But for her, nothing special. She was the best here.”
Karibyan went on to call the shy and diminutive Komlos, who was standing beside him after the competition, “a very hard worker, one of the leaders at our club.”
Nowotny’s second-place finish of 259.10 put her comfortably in silver-medal position, ahead of Vancouver-Squamish diver Maggie Osiega who scored a 221.50. But there was controversy of sorts before Nowotny’s final attempt in the last round, when she was set to do one dive, but her dive sheet – and what judges were expecting – had another listed.
After a brief break to sort things out, Nowotny performed the dive listed on the sheet, and still wound up in second place.
Fourth-place went to Marjan Aktary, a member of the White Rock Divers, who scored a 211.80 in the final round despite playing hurt – during a practice dive Thursday, she hit her shoulder on the diving board.