Australia’s pairing of Sharleen Stratton and Anabelle Smith (both AIS scholarship holders) has won a bronze medal at the World Diving Championships currently being held in Shanghai.

The pair started strongly in the final and was in second position after round two.  Round three saw their dive marked down for their finish, which saw them fall back to seventh place. 

A brilliant fourth dive recovery saw the girls back in equal third place with the Ukrainian pairing heading into the final round of dives, three points behind second placed Canada.
 
In their final dive, the Aussie duo pulled off a superb finish to edge out Ukraine and collect the bronze medal.
 
‘I am very happy being the first day and first event,’ said an excited Stratton.
 
‘We have been training very hard. We have only been together for three months after my partner of five years Briony Cole retired last year.’
 
‘It is a great result for us, a personal best and puts us well on track for London 2012.’
 
Smith, competing in her first ever World Championship was equally excited. 

‘We wanted a podium finish today and we did it,’ she said. 

‘We can only continue to get better from here.’
 
The pair has trained together at the AIS in Brisbane after Stratton had a six months lay off with shoulder surgery after her gold medal win at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.
 
Women’s 3 metre Synchronised Final Results:

Gold: Wu Minxia and He Zi (China) 356.40
Silver: Jennifer Abel and Emilie Heymans (Canada) 313.50
Bronze: Sharleen Stratton and Anabelle Smith (Australia) 306.90.