Written by: Zhou Xin, World Aquatics
Correspondent
When you're great, you get measured
by the other competing legends in your sport. For two-time world champion Chen
Yuxi its 3vs1 in head-to-head match-ups against Tokyo Olympic champion Quan
Hongchan in four of their international encounters since 2022 with Chen winning
the women's 10m platform on the third and last day of the World Aquatics Diving
World Cup - Xi'an 2023 here on Sunday.
Xi'an native diver Yang Hao satisfied
the local fans by taking the men's 10m platform 574. 40 and later joined the
winning quartet in the mixed team event.
China topped the medal tally by
sweeping the nine golds on offer while also adding two silvers for good
measure. Great Britain placed second with five silvers and two bronzes, and
Germany finished third on the medal table with one silver and four bronzes.
Ukraine was fourth with one silver and one bronze, and Japan finished fifth
with two bronzes during the three-day World Cup event in Xi'an.
Women's 10m Platform
The youngest Chinese athlete at the
Tokyo Games, Quan Hongchan, 14, scored 24 perfect marks out of 35 possible and
took the crown at Tokyo Olympic Games while Chen Yuxi then claimed two
consecutive victories in World Championships in Budapest and Diving World Cup
in Berlin in 2022.
The rivalry turned on heating mode
from the morning preliminary and afternoon final together with screaming and
applause from the full-house audience all the way. Quan collected 438.90 points
to top the preliminary, beating Chen 427.05 into second.
In the final, Quan soared to a
high-flying start by earning three perfect marks with 87 for the early lead,
1.5 points ahead of Chen in their same dive Forward 3 1/2 Somersaults.
Chen stood on top from her second
dive - Inward 3 1/2 Somersaults Tuck - 92.80. Quan was 8.1 points behind. The
Armstand dives did not change the ranking as Chen grabbed 92.40 and Quan 92.80.
Coming to 207C, a Back 3 1/2
Somersaults Tuck, the vital dive that cost Quan two winning chances at the
Budapest world championships and Berlin World Cup last year, foiled her one
more time when she made a big splash at the entry for a 69.30, the same score
Chen did just before her dive.
Chen was 7.70 points higher entering
the last round and posted 91.20 in a Back 2 1/2 Somersaults 1 1/2 Twists and a
total of 431.20 for the gold medal. Quan had to concede to a silver medal in
423.50 and Andrea Spendolini Sirieix of Great Britain rewrote her new personal
best of 360.30 for the bronze. Sarah Jodoin di Maria of Italy and Ingrid
Oliveira of Brazil came fourth and fifth, respectively.
"I was too excited to control
myself in front of the full-house audience in the final. I seldom made such a
big mistake in the 207C as I started higher and couldn't find the right angle
at entry. But in general, I performed pretty good, especially in rest other
four dives," said the 17 years old.
"I was also satisfied that I
kept an unbeaten streak against Quan, my strongest rival and synchro partner in
recent two years," Chen added.
Born in the rural village of Maihe in
southeastern China, Quan revealed she had a headache before the final.
"I didn't feel good which caused
my below-par performance compared to my form in the morning. Maybe because of a
mixture of nerves and excitement," said Quan who sealed 5 full marks out
of 7 scores and a total of 99 points for her 207C in the morning session.
Sendolini Sirieix, a champion at both
the European Championships and Commonwealth Games last year, said she was happy
to set a new PB.
"It's one of my new personal
bests which is very, very good. And it's nice. I just wanna keep on improving,
keep on doing better because I know that I can do better than that. I had some
mistakes in the first three rounds but I wanted to show the best that I can do
in the last two dives. I'm really comfortable with those dives. They're quite
easy for me and so I know how to do them technically," said the
18-year-old British diver.
The three medalists hugged, joked and
laughed around just like long-time friends.
Men's 10m Platform
Yang Hao, 25, a former Youth Olympic
Games champion, topped the preliminary 531.45 and final with 574.40, receiving
five effective full marks for an event-high 111 points in the Forward 4 1/2
Somersaults Tuck. He also bagged 108 points in the Backward 3 1/2 Somersaults.
"It was the form I lost for a
couple of years. The all-perfect marks just boosted my confidence and
encouragement, but in fact, I should do better in my last dive and try for
higher total results. I started to expect to compete in the next World Cup in
Montreal right now," Yang smiled.
Seventeen-year-old Oleksii Sereda of
Ukraine was the runner-up in 518.30 and 16-year-old Rikuto Tamai of Japan,
runner-up in Budapest worlds, suffered from two poor dives and placed third in
433.80, just edging Timo Barthel of Germany out of the podium by 0.9 of a
point.
"I just set a new personal best
in the international competitions and I did all my dives well. My 109 was really
good. I would like to show the same results or better in Montreal and earn a
ticket for Paris Olympic Games," Sereda said.
Competing with Tamai also brought
Sereda satisfaction. "He pushed me to work harder because I am not alone
that I have such a person who won the silver medal at the worlds and is good as
me at my age."
Tamai revealed he had been lack of
systematic training since Budapest worlds due to heavy work on his high school
study and injury on his waist at the same time.
Mixed Team Event
Germany took a strong start after
Lena Hentschel and Christina Wassen produced their individual 3m springboard
dives in the first two rounds before team China came from behind in the rest
four dives in 469.35.
Yang Hao showed up three times in the
mixed 3m springboard synchro with Chen Yiwen, individual 10m and mixed platform
synchro with Chen Yuxi. Germany earned silver with a 425.35-point score and
Great Britain took bronze with 420.15 points.
"We had a strong team on the
springboard and platform. It was a really good outcome and a great performance
for all of us," Moritz said. "It's a perfect competition in general.
You just see where we are standing now and how we can perform.
"It's also like in a big great
atmosphere, a lot of fans and very motivating," Moritz added. "We can
just test our dives. It's still early in the season and there will be a huge
improvement since there are still a few months left to the Fukuoka world
championships," Moritz said.
Sixty-three elite divers from 13
nations competed in the first stop of the Diving World Cup in Xi'an. The tour
moves next to Montreal, Canada, from May 5-7 and then onto the Super Final in
Berlin, Germany, from August 4-6.
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