By R.L. Bynum

Carolina diver Aranza Vazquez Montaño on Wednesday took the next step toward earning her first Olympic medal.

Vazquez, the two-time reigning NCAA and ACC 1-meter and 3-meter diving champion, finished third among 28 divers in the preliminary 3-meter springboard round, scoring 321.75 in competition in Saint-Denis, France.

Representing Mexico, the La Paz, Mexico, native will next compete in the semifinals at 4 a.m. ET Thursday, which will air on E! and Peacock. She needs to finish in the top 12 in the 18-diver competition to advance to the finals at 9 a.m. ET Friday.

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The first Olympic diver in school history, she finished sixth in the 3-meter springboard at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Last summer at the World Aquatic Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, she earned bronze in the one-meter springboard and silver in the mixed three-meter and 10-meter team event.

Vazquez, 21, ranked 12th after the first dive, but her second-round score of 69.65 on her 3⅓ somersaults jumped her to fourth place. Vazquez was second after four rotations but slipped to third after Australia’s Maddison Keeney put up the highest score of the day of 81.60 on her final dive.

China’s Chen Yiwen ended the day in first place with a score of 356.40, followed by Keeney in second at 337.25. Defending world champion Chang Yani of China was fourth at 308.75.

Preliminary 3-meter diving results

Place	Country	Swimmer	Score
1	CHN	CHEN Yiwen	356.40
2	AUS	KEENEY Maddison	337.35
3	MEX	VAZQUEZ MONTANO Aranza	321.75
4	CHN	CHANG Yani	308.75
5	GBR	REID Grace	303.25
6	JPN	ENOMOTO Haruka	299.10
7	ESP	ANTOLINO Valeria	297.70
7	ITA	PELLACANI Chiara	297.70
9	GBR	HARPER Yasmin	295.75
10	SWE	NILSSON GARIP Emilia	295.20
11	KOR	KIM Suji	285.50
12	MAS	SABRI Nur Dhabitah	283.65
13	RSA	VINCENT Julia	283.50
14	ITA	BERTOCCHI Elena	282.30
15	GER	OETTINGHAUS Saskia	279.35
16	AUS	KOLOI Alysha	276.60
17	MEX	ESTUDILLO TORRES Alejandra	276.45
18	CUB	GARCIA NAVARRO Anisley	272.40