‘I know my potential is there’: Aussie diver Maddison Keeney challenging Chinese for gold in Paris

Australian Maddison Keeney looks set to break up the Chinese stranglehold in the diving pool at Paris with a strong performance in the preliminaries of the three metre springboard.

Australia's Maddison Keeney in the women's 3 metre springboard. Picture: Oli Scarff / AFP

Maddison Keeney had every right to be bursting with confidence after cruising into the semi-final with the highest point scoring dive of the night, ahead of China’s Chang Yani in the women’s three metre springboard.

Keeney’s impressive fifth dive that had the crowd roaring and the judges dishing out 8s scored 81.60 points – the highest scoring dive of any competitor in the heat.

China’s Chen Yiwen finished first just 19 points ahead of Keeney.

Chang finished 30 points behind in fourth.

It was the first time China hadn’t gone into the semi-finals of a diving event in Paris ranked 1 and 2.

It was a wild heat round with belly-flops, a board strike, low scores and a technical fault delaying proceedings.

But Keeney was oblivious to all of it.

Maddison Keeney entering the water after one of her dives. Picture: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Her results prove the heartbreak of narrowly missing a medal earlier in the Games is long forgotten.

Keeney wasn’t surprised by her results.

“I know my potential is there,” Keeney said.

“It’s all about how I perform on the day. I just focus on myself. I’ve been doing a lot of work in training and just improving my consistency.

“My goal for this is to just be happy with how I do, I just want internal satisfaction.”

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Keeney won’t be the only Australian in the semi-final.

Olympic debutant Alysha Koloi, finished 16th.

The result doesn’t reflect how well Koloi performed – if it hadn’t been for a misstep in her fourth dive she could have been ranked inside the top 10.

“I’m actually pretty proud of how I competed,” she said.

“I had one little slip up but I’m not disappointed by my consistency at all. I’m proud of how I held myself together and really happy I’m through to the semis.”

With a competitive field and just 18 progressing to the semi-finals all the divers were forced to push the limits.

It didn’t always go to plan.

American diver Alison Gibson didn’t jump out far enough – her feet, in pike position, hitting the board on her way down. She wasn’t injured but recorded zero points.

Chang also made a rare entry error in her second dive – registering just 38.75 points from the judges, but she still progressed through to the semi-final.

Ukrainian diver Viktoriya Kesa, was not as lucky – almost landing in the water flat on her belly.

Keeney and Koloi will be back in action at 6pm Thursday (AEST).

Originally published as ‘I know my potential is there’: Aussie diver Maddison Keeney challenging Chinese for gold in Paris