Indiana swimming and diving rising junior Mariah Denigan, part of the 2023 U.S. Open Water National Team, placed eighth out of 57 in the women's 10-kilometer race July 15 JST, at the 2023 Fukuoka World Aquatics Championships in Japan. Denigan's time was 2:03:13.50.
Denigan's eighth-place performance was seven spots higher than her 15th-place swim in the same event at the 2022 World Championships in Budapest. Per an IU Athletics release, Denigan automatically qualified for next year's open-water world championships. There, the current 20-year-old open-water swimmer could qualify for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.
Denigan returned to the water Tuesday, July 18, JST for the half-distance women's five-kilometer race and placed 18th out of 55 swimmers. Denigan's time was 1:01:18.30, one minute and 46 seconds behind 26-year-old victor Leonie Beck, who broke under an hour.
Between Denigan's races, Indiana's 2015 NCAA Champion platform diver Jessica Parratto, who dove in the past two Summer Olympics, earned bronze for the U.S. at Fukuoka Sunday JST in the women's synchronized 10-meter diving finals with teammate Delaney Schnell.
Parratto and Schnell had won silver together at the most recent Tokyo Summer Olympics and also placed second in the event's preliminary round at Fukuoka earlier Sunday. Though, after their second of five dives in Sunday’s final, they were ranked 10th out of 12. The duo, however, climbed to fifth entering the last dive – their best of the day — to snatch bronze over Mexico.
Mexico's Alejandra Orozco Loza and Gabriela Agúndez Garcia were within the top-five overall throughout each dive. Going into the last dive, they were in fourth, ahead of the U.S. by 1.56 points. Both pairs executed their highest-point dive of the day the final time at the platform, though Parratto and Schnell's 74.88-pointer was better by 4.80 to secure the podium finish.
The medal earned the U.S. a quota spot for the event at next summer’s games in Paris.
Indiana 19-year-old rising sophomore diver, Maxwell Weinrich, debuted in the world championships July 15 JST in the mixed 10-meter synchronized event with 17-year-old teammate Kaylee Bishop. The pair had won the event at the 2023 USA Diving National Championships in May. In Fukuoka, Weinrich and Bishop placed 11th out of 14 countries.
Andrew Capobianco, former two-time NCAA Champion with Indiana and silver medalist at Tokyo, is competing in the ongoing three-meter men’s springboard event at Fukuoka. Capobianco placed 17th in the preliminary with 385.40 points and improved to ninth in the semifinal with 427.35 points Wednesday, July 19 JST. Capobianco’s best and final dive in the semifinal – forward 4½ somersaults in tuck position – ranked second out of 18 divers.
The three-meter men’s springboard finals is set to take place at 6 p.m. JST July 20, which is 5 a.m. EST Thursday. Capobianco is one of two divers representing the U.S. out of the 12 total. The final will air on the TV network Peacock. The pool swimming events, which will include Hoosiers such as Lilly King and Josh Matheny, begin at 10:30 a.m. July 23 JST.
