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Diving their way to the Canada Summer Games

Diving their way to the Canada Summer Games

Starting 10 metres up, Corydon Wolfe stands at the edge of the platform at the Pan Am Pool, facing away from the water.
Two toe bounces, and she's off — launching headfirst toward the board, throwing herself into a pike position and spinning two and a half times before hitting the five-metre-deep pool, trying to go through the water without making a splash.
The complicated-sounding action is known as an inward two-and-a-half pike, or 405B — a new dive Wolfe has added this year as part of her platform list.
Danielle Langlois / Intuition Studios Photo
Diver Corydon Wolfe prepares for an inward two-and-a-half pike. Wolfe is one of 100 diving hopefuls participating in the 2025 Dive Manitoba Summer Provincials held at the Pan Am Pool June 6-8.
At 16 year's old, the Revolution Diving team member has had a successful 10 years with the club so far, from new dives to national competitions. This weekend, she will try to add to her list of accomplishments at the 2025 Dive Manitoba Summer Provincials at Pan Am Pool, an event with higher stakes than usual.
The 2025 Provincials, running Friday through Sunday, is the final selection opportunity to qualify for the 2025 Canada Summer Games in Newfoundland and Labrador in August.
Wolfe, along with Revolution Diving teammates Evangeline Hedges, Mila Mortele, Vlad Tiaglei, Gabriel Brombach and Nicolas Landry, are the standout divers vying for selection at the conclusion of the competition.
'I'd be pretty thrilled to be a primary member,' said Wolfe, who was selected in 2022 as an alternate. 'I've never been to any sort of type of Canada Games, so I think it would be a really unique and interesting experience.'
Manitoba Diving has the final say on which divers are selected for their maximum eight-member team, consisting of four males and four females.
For female divers competing on springboard and platform, they must perform a minimum set of five dives from different directions. Over the course of the year, they are required to compete in at least two events featuring a national list to qualify, demonstrating those dives during Women's Open competitions.
Ilya Yunanov, Revolution Diving coach and head coach of Team Manitoba Diving for the 2025 Canada Summer Games, says Wolfe has made significant progress throughout the year.
'She's added quite a few difficult dives on tower and three-metre,' Yunanov said. 'She has a very resilient mindset, growth mindset… She's focused, determined, but also fun. A lot of fun as a person, just smiling, cheerful, always in a good spirit, leading the team by example, by actions.'
Nearly 100 divers from nine clubs across the country will be competing in the three-day provincials.
'I'm going to try and focus on knowing that I can do the dives and performing them well,' said Wolfe. 'Instead of trying to fix something that you can't really fix, try and be more confident with what I already have.'
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Yunanov says provincials is the best event on the calendar, as it features a broad range of athletes of various ages and skill levels, from novice to masters.
'Every provincials in Manitoba are at the end of the calendar year for competitions before the national team events in July,' said Yunanov. 'And that's why most of the divers from all around Canada send people here for that reason, to get the last chance to qualify, so the event becomes quite a busy one.'
Provincials begin Friday at 9:05 a.m. with the girls' and boys' C-platform events.
'Everyone is welcome to come and watch,' said Yunanov. 'Diving is beautiful to watch. I would welcome everyone, bring their families, sit down, enjoy this magnificent sport, because it takes quite a bit of courage to do what our divers do.'
zoe.pierce@freepress.mb.ca
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