Duke’s Abby Johnston, along with her partner Kelci Bryant, won the silver medal in Sunday’s 3m synchronized diving final. It was the USA’s first medal in the sport. Since the inception of the sport in 2000, the US had been 0-for-12.

Johnston and Bryant successfully completed the last of their five dives (a back 2 1/2 somersault) to secure their second place finish. They finished with a score of 321.90 points.

The two finished fourth in February’s World Cup.

China’s Wu Minxia and He Zi won gold with 346.20 points. It is Wu’s third consecutive gold medal and fifth overall Olympic diving medal.

*Fellow Duke diver Nick McCrory is looking to follow Johnston’s footsteps and pick up a medal on Monday in the 10m synchronized diving final with partner David Boudia (who is his competition in the 10m individual diving later in the Olympics). Check out an article on McCrory in the Sacramento Bee.