Written by: Zhou Xin, World Aquatics
Correspondent
Chen Yiwen recorded her personal best
score with 2,556 local fans watching the competition from the stands and many
multiples more from the live stream and broadcast away from the competition
pool.
Women's 3m Springboard
Chen, the double winner at last
year's world championships in Budapest, earned a day-high 83 points in her
Forward 3 1/2 Somersaults Pike and celebrated a new personal best of 392.79 for
the title.
Chang Yani finished second in 336.55
and Sayaka Mikami of Japan took the bronze medal in 302.30, out-pointing Grace
Reid of Great Britain by 2.1 points.
"I was happy with my result
since it was my first time scoring 390 plus. It was also the best performance
in recent two years. I could join the 400 Club if I could do better in my
second dive Backward 2 1/2 Somersaults. I felt more focused on a
Preliminary-to-Final individual competition format in the current World Cup.
The victory brought me more confidence thanks to the local fans,” Chen said.
Chang Yani, 21, who has paired with
synchro partner Chen since 2021, said: "It was a terrible international
appearance. I felt rusty and could not find my own pace. I was nervous when I stood
on the springboard but at the same time, I was too eager for the victory. I
need to adjust myself and come back again.
Sayaka Mikami was the only women
diver among the finalists who tried on a Forward 2 1/2 Somersaults 2 Twists,
one of the highest difficult dives for women with a 3.4 Degree of Difficulty
and received 66.30 points for the dive.
"I failed to do this dive as
well as I did during daily training because I was backward from the top of the
springboard. I have been trained in this high DD dive for about five years
since it can be my chance of winning medals at international
competitions," said the 22 years old Japanese.
Men's 3m Springboard
Wang Zongyuan, the first-ever triple
gold medalist in one World Aquatics Championships in 2022, snatched a day-high
104.50 points for his last dive Forward 4 1/4 Somersaults, sealed the victory
in 553.15.
Wang was followed by Jack Laugher of
Britain took the silver in 442.95 and Moritz Wesemann of Germany completed the
podium with bronze in 438.70.
The 21-year-old Wang booked four
90-plus points out of six dives from the final.
"After yesterday's synchro
event, I felt more used to the full-house cheering audience and relaxed,"
Wang said. "I began to enjoy the competition with other top divers. No
pressure, but full of energy, I gave it all out in my last dive. I was quite
satisfied with my performance at the first big international competition."
Talking about the new World Cup
competition format, Wang added: "I felt easier and more relaxed in the
individual event because all the preliminary and final take within one
day."
Jack Laugher was OK with the silver
medal but unsatisfied with his performance. “This morning was not so good that
I finished fourth. Some mistakes and first time competing, maybe due to some
nerves. In the final, I showed some really, really good take-offs from the
board apart from my last dive, which was very bad.” Laugher got 52.65 for his
Forward 4 1/2 Somersaults Tuck.
“I think a lot of athletes have
struggled today because of the short turnaround between the women's and men's
finals. But everyone is the same. I'm proud of myself. It's a medal. I can
still move forward from this,” Jack added.
Competing in his second World Cup,
Wesemann, 20, was pretty happy about the outcomes. “It was a great result and
it's still in April, still sometime back from the world championships. I did
not have a rough start; not the perfect dive in the first 3 rounds, but had
three beautiful dives at the end. In the end, I'm very happy about the
outcome.”
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