March 22, 2007
MELBOURNE, Australia -
2007 FINA World Championships Media Packet in PDF Format
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2007 FINA World Championships Meet Schedule in PDF FormatDownload Free Acrobat Reader
Arizona State University Swimming and Diving will be showcased on an international level from March 17 through April 1, as three current and former Sun Devils will compete at the 2007 FINA World Championships in .
Current Sun Devils Micky Benedetti () and Ante Cvitkovic (), along with legendary diver Joona Puhakka () have been scheduled to compete against the world's best swimmers and divers, while Sun Devil head diving coach Mark Bradshaw will serve as the national team coach for .
A four-time NCAA Champion and eight-time Pacific-10 Conference Champion, Puhakka began the action on Monday, March 19 by placing 10th in the three-meter synchronized diving finals, recording a score of 378.57. He also competed in the one-meter springboard preliminary round on Tuesday, March 20 and finished 23rd overall with a score of 302.65. Puhakka will also compete in the three-meter springboard diving, to be held Thursday, March 22.
Puhakka will be aided by the guidance of Bradshaw as his national team coach, just as he was for four years while diving at the collegiate level for the Sun Devils.
Benedetti, the 2006-07 Pac-10 Champion in three-meter and platform diving and the 2006-07 NCAA national platform diving runner-up, will compete in the synchronized platform diving, to begin Monday, March 26.
After enjoying an excellent freshman season which earned him a berth at the 2007 NCAA Championships, Cvitkovic will compete in the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke events. He will see his first action on Monday, March 26 (100m), continuing Thursday, March 29 (200m) and concluding on Saturday, March 31 (50m).
Events showcased at the FINA World Championships include swimming (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, medleys and relays), diving (1m and 3m springboard, 10m platform, 3m synchronized springboard and 10m synchronized platform), water polo, synchronized swimming (solo, duet, team and free combination) and open water swimming (5km, 10km, 25km and swimming marathon).
The "Fédération Internationale de Natation" (FINA) was founded in on July 19, 1908 during the Olympic Games and currently includes 194 National Federations.
For more information on the 2007 FINA World Championships, please visit The Official FINA Website.