Canadian cliff diver Lysanne Richard wins bronze in injury return

Montreal's Lysanne Richard overcame limited training to reach the podium in the latest stop of the cliff diving World Series, winning a bronze medal in women's 21-metre on Sunday in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovinia.

The mother of three, who missed the FINA world championships earlier this month, scored 284.70 points.

"I tried to prepare myself as best as I could with a lot of visualization and simulation," said Richard, who was held to two dives per day in training leading up to Sunday's event in order to fully recover from injury. "It's a big mental challenge."

The 37-year-old Richard, who sat out the entire 2017 season with a similar neck injury, was satisfied with her first and fourth dives but described the middle two as "below par."

Despite the circumstances, she added, "the event went very well for me."

Rhiannan Ifflan of Australia remained undefeated this season, capturing her sixth gold medal with 358.05 points. The reigning three-time cliff diving World Series champion has also clinched the season title ahead of the final event Sept. 14 in Bilbao, Spain.

Eleanor Townsend of the United States was second with 288.90 points.