Sarah Bacon, a senior-to-be for the Gophers, became the first U.S. woman in 14 years to win an individual diving medal at a FINA World Championships when she placed second on the 1-meter board in Gwangju, South Korea.
Bacon finished with 262.00 points, edging South Korea's Kim Suji by 4.8 points for the silver medal. China's Chen Yiwen took the gold with 285.45 points.
She overtook Kim for the second spot with 55.90 points on her last dive, a front 2½ pike.
"I did know how close it was," Bacon said. "Paying attention to the scores and being that close kind of gives me motivation going into my dives. It gives me a little more fire to perform them well. I could have hit one or two dives a little better, but it was a very consistent list."
Bacon will compete in the 3-meter event next. "This [medal] will give me more confidence going into 3-meter, which is something I struggle with every now and then," she said. "Most of the time I perform better on 1-meter than on 3-meter, so being able to medal on 1-meter gives me more confidence going into the 3-meter event."
She won the 1-meter event at the NCAA meet this past season and placed third in 3-meter diving.
