University of Minnesota Athletics
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/ Women's Swimming & Diving
Diving
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Bacon, Butler Finals Bound at 2021 Olympic Trials
6/9/2021 9:26:00 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving
MINNEAPOLIS - With four days of competition completed at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Diving Trials, Minnesota divers Jake Butler and Sarah Bacon are both headed towards their respective finals rounds on their paths to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Bacon (synchro/individual 3m) was the first of the two to achieve the feat, having done so on the first day of the trials when her and her synchro partner, Kassidy Cook, tore through the preliminary and semifinals round of the synchronized springboard to sit second overall heading into finals. The duo currently sits only 25 points out of first place after opening the event as the favorites to represent the U.S. in Tokyo this summer.
As the diver who earned the U.S. their Olympic quota spot in the individual springboard event at the FINA Diving World Cup in late April, Bacon entered her second event of the trials as the favorite to win as well. Though she comfortably reached the finals in the event, the Indianapolis, Ind. product did so with slightly more difficulty than was expected, finishing both the preliminary and semifinals round in fifth place. She now only sits 25.9 points out of the top-two.
Butler's success at the 2021 Olympic Trials came most recently, and was arguably the most exciting of the three.
After missing his second dive of the preliminary round, Butler sat as low as 29th of 35 total divers only two dives into the event. After a strong third and fourth dive, however, the Seal Beach, Calif. native threw his best dive of the preliminary round in the fifth (71.75) to keep his hopes at the Olympic team alive. With a successful final dive in the round, Butler managed to reach the top-18 and move onto the semifinals.
For Butler, the semifinal round was going to be as difficult a task as he has ever had to face, as the Minnesota junior needed to move into the top-12 to advance. It would seem, however, that nobody told him that, as he hit all six dives in his semifinal round to pass eight of his competitors. He would eventually bump himself all the way into ninth place, where he will sit heading into the next and final round before the ever looming Tokyo Olympics this coming July.
For both divers the finals round of each event lies in the near future. Bacon will team up with Cook once more Thursday night to face the finals session of the synchro springboard event before eventually taking on the individual springboard final on Saturday afternoon. As for Butler, he will need to wait until Sunday afternoon to face his next task.
To be selected for the Olympic team in the individual events, Bacon and Butler would need to finish in the top two spots of their fields by cumulative score of all three rounds. In the synchro event, Bacon and Cook would need to win the event in order to be selected. At this point, only time will tell for them both.
Bacon (synchro/individual 3m) was the first of the two to achieve the feat, having done so on the first day of the trials when her and her synchro partner, Kassidy Cook, tore through the preliminary and semifinals round of the synchronized springboard to sit second overall heading into finals. The duo currently sits only 25 points out of first place after opening the event as the favorites to represent the U.S. in Tokyo this summer.
As the diver who earned the U.S. their Olympic quota spot in the individual springboard event at the FINA Diving World Cup in late April, Bacon entered her second event of the trials as the favorite to win as well. Though she comfortably reached the finals in the event, the Indianapolis, Ind. product did so with slightly more difficulty than was expected, finishing both the preliminary and semifinals round in fifth place. She now only sits 25.9 points out of the top-two.
Butler's success at the 2021 Olympic Trials came most recently, and was arguably the most exciting of the three.
After missing his second dive of the preliminary round, Butler sat as low as 29th of 35 total divers only two dives into the event. After a strong third and fourth dive, however, the Seal Beach, Calif. native threw his best dive of the preliminary round in the fifth (71.75) to keep his hopes at the Olympic team alive. With a successful final dive in the round, Butler managed to reach the top-18 and move onto the semifinals.
For Butler, the semifinal round was going to be as difficult a task as he has ever had to face, as the Minnesota junior needed to move into the top-12 to advance. It would seem, however, that nobody told him that, as he hit all six dives in his semifinal round to pass eight of his competitors. He would eventually bump himself all the way into ninth place, where he will sit heading into the next and final round before the ever looming Tokyo Olympics this coming July.
For both divers the finals round of each event lies in the near future. Bacon will team up with Cook once more Thursday night to face the finals session of the synchro springboard event before eventually taking on the individual springboard final on Saturday afternoon. As for Butler, he will need to wait until Sunday afternoon to face his next task.
To be selected for the Olympic team in the individual events, Bacon and Butler would need to finish in the top two spots of their fields by cumulative score of all three rounds. In the synchro event, Bacon and Cook would need to win the event in order to be selected. At this point, only time will tell for them both.
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