World Championships: China Takes Both Golds, led by Zheng Jiuyuan
China won both gold medals on offer on Day 2 of diving at the World Aquatics Championships on Sunday, via the mixed synchro platform duo of Zhu Yongxin and Xie Peiling and men’s 1-meter champ Zheng Jiuyuan.
Yan Siyu of China took bronze on men’s 1-meter as well.
The platform event was a thriller, with Zhu and Xie 12th after one round and ninth after two. They delivered the best dive of each the third and fourth rounds, the latter getting them into first place with 88.32 points.
But they faltered on the last round, their 5253B worth only 69.12 points, seventh-most in the round. When North Korea’s Choe Wi Hyon and Jo Jin Mi scored 78.72, they vaulted from third to second and just a minuscule 0.06 points away from gold.
“This wasn’t an easy gold to win,” Zhu said. “We got this by the skin of our teeth. It was hard, but at least we got it in the end. There’s still a lot of room for improvement. “We were encouraging each other as the competition went on. We were quite nervous. This is the first time we’re taking part in a world championships. Our coach did remind us not to think about what’s already happened – just focus on what’s still to come and what you can control.”
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It’s the third career medal for North Korea’s Jo, who won silver in Doha in the 10-meter women’s synchro and 10-meter mixed synchro.
Bronze went to the early leader from Neutral Athletes B, Aleksandr Bondar and Anna Konanykhina. They were first after three rounds, but the sixth-best dive of the third round and the eighth of the final round dropped them to bronze in 311.88.
Fourth was the Mexican duo of Kevin Berlin and Alejandra Estudillo, 7.3 points behind the NAB. Americans Tyler Wills and Bayleigh Cranford finished fifth, improving from 10th after two rounds.
On 1-meter, Zheng took control of the competition with the best dive of the second and third rounds. He scored 443.70 points over six dives, 14.10 points of Osmar Olvera of Mexico, who tallied 429.60.
Zheng gets a long-awaited gold in his fourth Worlds. He won bronze on 1-meter in 2023 but was a disappointing 11th in Doha.
“I’m very happy because this is my fourth world championships,” Zheng said. “I’ve been on the podium before but never at the top (for an individual event). I have to give myself credit for persevering and continuing to work hard in this event. I also have to thank the coaches and my family for believing in me.”
Olvera never quite recovered from the 10-best dive of the third round, one in which he spotted Zheng 25 points. He had the best dive of the fifth round and outscored Zheng on the final dive, but it wasn’t enough to ahead of him.
Olvera made the podium for the third straight edition of Worlds, the Doha champion also taking silver in Fukuoka.
“It’s still a good result,” he said. “Obviously, I’m happy, but not too much, because I want to win a gold medal. But at the end of the day, I got a medal. I just tried to be focused in the competition, enjoy my dives. And I know that I am a little frustrated, but I’m happy.”
Yan was sixth after two rounds but in bronze position the rest of the way. He got within 2.5 points of Olvera after four rounds. That was enough cushion to hold off the hard charge of Jordan Houlden of Great Britain by .45 points, Yan scoring 405.50. Houlden had the best dive of the fourth round and matched it with 72.00 points in the sixth round to apply the pressure.
France’s Jules Bouyer was fifth, with Moritz Wesemann of Germany sixth despite dropping the best dive of the sixth round.
