Long Island's Andrew Capobianco fails to make Olympic Team in men's 3-meter synchronized diving

Andrew Capobianco dove into the pool with Michael Hixon during the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, and they emerged with a silver medal in the men’s 3-meter synchronized event.

Now Capobianco was diving into the pool in Knoxville, Tennessee, with a new partner in the same event at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

Only the winning pair Tuesday night was going to get to go to the Paris Games this summer, and this time the 24-year-old Long Island native just missed making it in the event. Capobianco and Quinn Henninger finished in second, only 2.37 points behind Tyler Downs and Greg Duncan, 811.41-809.04.

But for Capobianco, who was born in Mineola and spent a good chunk of his childhood in Wantagh, all isn’t lost.

The individual 3-meter springboard diving competition is next for him.

Capobianco, a 10th-place finisher individually in Tokyo, will try to qualify Friday for Sunday’s final when the top two will move on. He took the event at the 2023 U.S. Championships. So he’s expected to be one of those in contention as is Downs, who won individually at the trials at age 17 in 2021 and finished 23rd at the Olympics.

The previous Olympic experience was encouraging for Capobianco.

“Coming away with a silver medal was amazing, and to follow that up with a 10th-place finish, that’s my highest international finish ever,” he told Newsday from Tokyo in August of 2021.

“I had never made the final individually, so I have a lot to be happy with. Obviously, I know I could have finished better individually, but I have a lot to be proud of.”

There had been promising signs for Capobianco and Henninger, the 21-year-old replacement for Hixon, who retired after the Tokyo Games.

The new team had finished first at U.S. Winter Nationals in December and then turned in a ninth-place showing at the 2024 World Championships, although Capobianco had to undergo knee surgery after the December event.

After Tuesday's prelims, they were less than a point behind the leaders, Downs and Duncan, 404.10-403.95.

After four rounds of the six in the nighttime final, the deficit for Capobianco and Henninger stood at 12.39 points.

But their chances really took a hit in the fifth round.

They struggled that time and Downs and Duncan did not. The margin was extended to 20.01.

Then Capobianco and Henninger turned in brilliant final round, scoring 95.76 on a forward 4 1/2 somersault with a 3.8 degree of difficulty, putting pressure on Downs and Duncan. But their 78.12 score was enough to secure the victory.

“I would say last trials I wasn’t expecting to make it, so I guess it was all kind of a shock, all the emotion,” Downs said on the NBC telecast. “But now really dialing in and putting all the work in that we needed getting to this moment and getting the job done, it’s great.”

Capobianco moved from Wantagh to North Carolina before his high school days, then went on to become an All-American at Indiana.

But he made a mark before leaving Nassau when he competed for Wantagh High and became the first seventh grader to take the Nassau diving title. He was the county champ the following year, too.

His shot at becoming an Olympian again isn’t over.