McCrory qualifies for 10-meter final

After a strong performance in the preliminary round, Nick McCrory stepped up his game as the competition grew tougher, grabbing one of the 12 spots in the final round of the men's 10-meter platform event at the Olympic Games.

The Blue Devil diver finished seventh out of 18 competitors in the semifinal round Saturday morning, totaling 506.50 points in six dives. Although he finished eighth in the preliminary round, McCrory improved his overall score by 25.60 points. He also improved his scores from the previous round on five of his six dives and averaged scores of 8.5 or better on three of his six dives.

McCrory's best scores from the judges came on his fourth dive, a reverse 3 1/2 somersault which averaged scores of 9.0 and earned him 89.10 points, but once again his highest scoring dive was his final dive of the round, a back 2 1/2 somersault with 2 1/2 twists, which scored lower from the judges but earned McCrory 90.00 points due to its high 3.6 degree of difficulty.

David Boudia, the other American competing in the competition, improved his performance drastically in the semifinal round. Boudia, who partnered with McCrory to take the bronze medal in the men's synchronized 10-meter platform event, placed third in the semifinal with 531.15 points after barely qualifying for the semifinals with an 18th-place finish in the preliminaries.

China's Qiu Bo continues to lead the competition. After placing first in the preliminary round, Bo led after the semifinals with a nearly identical score of 563.55 points. His Chinese teammate Lin Yue was once again second, but far behind Bo with a score of 541.80 points.

Scores from the semifinal round will not carry over into this afternoon's final, and each diver will have six more dives to try and make it onto the medal stand.

McCrory will compete in the final round Saturday afternoon at 3:30 EST, with a chance to become the first Duke athlete to win multiple medals in the same Olympic Games since swimmer Nancy Hogshead won four medals at the 1984 Games. Both this morning's semifinal and this afternoon's final round will be re-aired on NBC in primetime Saturday night, though the final round can be streamed live online at NBCOlympics.com.

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