May 9, 2004
MADRID, Spain. - Showing no signs of slowing down after a spectacular NCAA season, Arizona State sophomore diver Joona Puhakka set a new personal best on the 3-meter springboard on Sunday to finish second in the event at the European Championships held at the M-86 Center.
Diving for his native Finland, Puhakka racked up a score of 676.80 to earn the silver medal behind Germany's Andreas Wels (695.76). Puhakka hit five of his six dives in the finals with two of those dives being ranked as the best effort in their respective round. The Finn was one of only two divers in the finals (Dmytro Lysenko, Ukraine) to have two dives with a degree of difficulty of 3.5.
Puhakka won the 2004 NCAA Championship on the 3-meter and is the only student-athlete in the history of the men's swimming and diving program to win two national titles in a career after he also won the 1-meter title in 2003. The two-time Pac-10 Diver of the Year will be back in action on Wednesday for the 1-meter springboard at the European Championships. Arizona State head diving coach Mark Bradshaw, the 2004 Pac-10 Men's and Women's Diving Coach of the Year, is coaching Puhakka in Madrid.