Elvis and Maccartney in perfect harmony

IT was music to the ears of Sarawakians – Elvis Priestley Clement and Enrique Maccartney Harold were very much in sync as they dived to gold in the 10m platform synchro event at Malaysia Games (Sukma) in Sarawak.

Enrique was in his element. He showed that he could emulate his close friend Bertrand Rhodict and qualify for the Olympics, when he came close to breaking his personal best score by collecting 384.72 points.

Enrique’s previous best score in the synchro was 386.07 which he set with Bertrand to win bronze in the Hangzhou Asian Games last year.

The 21-year-old and Elvis, 18, superbly executed all their dives from start to finish ahead of Sabah’s Julfaddli Jali-Mohd Anilrian Abdullah (282.12) and Federal Territories’ Donald Chen-Choo Jin Wei (271.53) at the Pandelela Rinong Aquatic Centre in Kuching yesterday much to the delight of the home supporters.

“We are satisfied with this win as it was one of our best performances in synchro,” said Enrique. “We wanted to break our personal record and came very close.”

Enrique hopes to build on his performance with Elvis and keep improving to qualify for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

“I wanted to qualify with Bertrand for Paris Games but could not,” said Enrique. “My aim now is to make the cut for the 2028 Games in both the 10m individual and synchro events.

“I’m happy with this performance with Elvis and I will keep working hard to do better.”

Elvis was also delighted to win his second gold in the competition after capturing the 3m springboard individual title a day earlier. The teen sensation, who also dreams of diving in the Olympics, is hungry to win his third title when he competes in the 10m individual against Enrique tomorrow.

Elvis though will face a tough task to beat the more experienced Enrique.

“I’m very happy to win my second gold in this Sukma,” said Elvis. “Enrique and I partnered each other to win the gold today (yesterday) but on Thursday (tomorrow), we will be fighting each other for the individual title.

“We want to beat each other,” he smiled. So far, Sarawak have won all five golds in diving in this Sukma.

RESULTS

Boy’s platform synchro: 1. Elvis Priestley Clement-Enrique Maccartney Harold (Swk) 384.72, 2. Julfaddli Jali-Mohd Anilrian Normatrud Abdullah (Sab) 282.12, 3. Donald Chen-Choo Jin Wei (FT) 271.53.

Girls 1m springboard individual: 1. Dayang Nursharzyra (Swk) 232.10, 2. Uzlifatil Jannah (Ter) 186.60, 3. Teng Hui Xue (FT) 173.15.

3m springboard mixed synchro: 1. Dayang Nursharzyra Awang Nasaruddin-Awang Sharzan Nasrin (Swk) 227.13, 2. Celeste Lee Qin-Choo Jin Wei (FT) 2019.14, 3. Mohd Haziq Muizuddin Mohd Asri-Uzlifatil Jannah Ashraf (Ter) 201.81.