Another IU student-athlete is bringing home a medal from Rio.
Junior Michael Hixon grabbed silver in the men's synchronized 3-meter springboard final with his partner Sam Dorman, who graduated from the University of Miami in 2015.
Both first-time Olympians, the American duo finished with a final score of 450.21, besting Cao Yuan and Qin Kai from China by 6.51 points. The Chinese finished with a comfortable margin over the fourth-place finishers from Germany to take bronze.
Hixon and Dorman started off the competition toward the bottom of the standings, but quickly surged to third place through three dives. The pair bounced between second and third place the rest of the way, and used a final dive score of 98.04 to put some serious pressure on the divers from Great Britain and China.
The British weren’t fazed, and won the gold medal after a solid final dive gave them a final score of 454.32. The Chinese, however, couldn’t do enough to overtake the Americans.
Hixon and Dorman qualified for the 2016 Olympics after besting Kristian Ipsen and Troy Dumais at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Indianapolis. Ipsen and Dumais won a bronze medal in the event in 2012 in London.
Hixon will also compete in the 3-meter dive, which will have its preliminary round on Aug. 15 and its semifinal and final on Aug. 16.
Jordan Guskey
