March 1, 2013

WINNIPEG – Victoria’s Emma Friesen is the surprise leader after Friday’s preliminaries in the women’s three-metre springboard event at the Winter Nationals diving competition.

Friesen, who is on the comeback trail after missing almost two seasons, showed the most consistency in her program to tabulate 299.00 points. Olympic and world championship medallist Jennifer Abel of Laval, Que., is second at 296.10 and Aimee Harrison of Winnipeg is third at 258.60.

“I was really nervous throughout the competition,” said Friesen, who opened the 2013 season placing sixth at FINA Grand Prix in Madrid last month. “I was very pleased with how I battled through it. I was able to execute good dives despite some mediocre take-offs.”