Jamaica’s Yona Knight-Wisdom just missed qualification Wednesday for what would have been his first-ever Olympic final in the 3m springboard event at the Paris Olympics.

Knight-Wisdom finished 13th with 412.40 points in the semi-finals, just one place and a mere four points out of the top 12 who will advance to the medal round at the Games.

It was the best place ever for the Jamaican in his three Olympic Games and he will be the first alternate in the final but it will leave a bitter taste in his mouth to have come so close.

He had qualified for the semi-final with 382.90 points from Tuesday’s first round and was scoring over 400m points in a major championships only for the third time in his career.

A fifth round reverse 3 ½ somersaults in the tuck position which carried a 3.5 degree of difficulty, his most difficult dive, where he only scored 52.5 points, knocked the 29-year-old UK born athlete out of contention after he was well set with some inspired diving in the early rounds.

He started well, scoring 74.40 in the first round on a forward 3 ½ somersaults in the pike position and also had scores over 70.0 in the third and final rounds.
-Paul A Reid