PARIS, France — Nothing like sizzling Cook’N’Bacon for breakfast Saturday morning at the Paris Olympics.
Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook won a silver medal in 3-meter synchronized springboard, seizing the first medal by any athletes from Team USA at the Paris Olympics.
Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen finished first with 337.68 points, extending China’s streak to six consecutive gold medals.
Bacon, 27, of Indianapolis and Cardinal Ritter High School graduate, and Cook, 29, of The Woodlands, Texas, were second with 314.64. Great Britain’s Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen took bronze with 302.28.
Bacon and Cook led Australia’s Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith by less than one point, 244.44 to 243.60, with one dive left. One of the Australian divers slipped on the board, ruining her dive and dropping the team to fifth.
The Americans performed in front of family and supporters wearing Cook’N’Bacon T-shirts to the Aquatics Centre.
The only other American medalists in women’s 3-meter synchro were Kelci Bryant and Abby Johnson, getting silver in 2012.
The Chinese led Cook and Bacon by three points 103.8 to 100.8, through two low-difficulty dives before padding their lead over three harder ones.
This was the Olympic debut for both Chang, 22, and Chen, 25. They teamed for synchro golds at each of the past three World Championships.
Bacon had intended to retire from the sport after 2021 Olympics but narrowly missed making the Tokyo team. After taking a few months off, she reconsidered and resumed training under her college coach, Wenbo Chen, of Minnesota.
Bacon was once honored by USA Diving for overcoming adversity – multiple stress fractures in her back during teenage years. She underwent two shoulder surgeries while a college diver but became a five-time NCAA champion and 2021 Big Ten female athlete of the year.
Cook, meanwhile, has endured six surgeries in 12 years.
Bacon said the Olympic Trials prepared the team for Paris, where they felt less pressure. Bacon and Cook prepared for their Olympic moment by medaling at three World Cup stops this year.
Bacon is not new to global podiums, having won a World Cup silver medal on 3-meter in 2021 and World Championships silvers on 1-meter (a non-Olympic event) in 2019 and 2022.
Bacon won two state titles while at Cardinal Ritter High School. She is also the fourth Indianapolis area diver in the past four Olympics to win a medal.
In 2016, Noblesville’s David Boudia and Carmel’s Steele Johnson won a silver on synchro 10-meter and Boudia a bronze on individual 10-meter.
In 2012, Boudia won two medals, including gold on 10-meter. Bryant was an Indy resident at the then-national training center.
Contact WTHR correspondent David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.