BY The Canadian Press

A second-place finish in the women's synchronized 10-metre platform dive at the FINA World Cup on Thursday day did more than just earn Emilie Heymans and Marie-Eve Marleau silver medals.

Heymans believes the performance at the Water Cube venue that will host diving at the 2008 Games this summer also helped the pair make an important point ahead of the Canadian Olympic team trials.

"I think the chances (of qualifying for the Beijing Olympics) are really good," said Heymans, a two-time Olympic medallist. "We've been competing really good since the beginning and we've always been around the same score.

"I think today we proved we're as good as (Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion) in international meets at worlds.

"We're really happy about that."

Canada has one spot in the 10-metre synchro for the Beijing Olympics and Benfeito, from Montreal, and Filion, from Laval, Que., will be the main challengers for Heymans, the St-Lambert, Que., native who won Olympic silver in 2000 and bronze in 2004 in 10-metre synchro, and Marleau, from Laval.

Teams will accumulate points for their performances in 2008 with the final showdown coming at the national team trials this June in Victoria. The duo with the most points goes to China.

Heymans and Marleau were second Thursday with a combined score of 340.05, well back of China's Wang Xin and Chen Ruo Lin, who took gold with 375.66.

Australians Melissa Wu and Briony Cole were third with 334.80.

"I'm really happy," said Heymans. "I think we both did great dives individually and the synchro was really good as well."

Closing the gap on Chinese divers will be another matter and the locals again showed they'll be tough to beat at the Games. Marleau believes the key is keeping them out of mind.

"We're focusing on our dives, we want do our dives the best that we can," she said. "If we do that very well we're very satisfied with that."

Alexandre Despatie of Laval, meanwhile, finished a disappointing fifth in the men's three-metre springboard with 496.10 points.

The Olympic silver medallist was 34.20 behind the 530.30 posted by winner He Chong of China. Countryman Qin Kai was second at 515.30 while Mexico's Yahel Castillo was third with 515.

"The day was a little bit up and down," said Despatie. "The semifinals were very good, very consistent and then I went to the finals and I felt great, physically I felt great but I made too many mistakes. ...

"I guess it's one of those days."

Despite the finish, Despatie said all was not lost.

"The final was disappointing," he said, "but I guess the point of coming here was to dive in the Olympic pool, make sure we feel comfortable looking toward the Olympics and that is a point we managed to achieve."

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