The Peninsula
Doha, Qatar: Reigning Olympic champion Quan Hongchan clinched her first individual title at the World Aquatics Championships Doha 2024, winning the women’s 10m platform diving as China extended their winning streak in the global showpiece yesterday.
After sealing three more titles following the fourth day’s finals in Doha, China consolidated their top spot with six gold, two silver and one bronze medal. Great Britain follow with a gold, two silver and six bronze medals while Mexico are third with a gold and a silver each besides four bronze medals.
At the Hamad Aquatics Centre, the 16-year-old Hongchan laid down an early statement of intent in the final with a forward dive with 3.5 somersaults in pike worth 76.50 to top the round 1 leaderboard.
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Great Britian’s Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix also continued her good form with a round 2 inward 3.5 somersault tuck worth 81.60 to take top spot.
But the joy was short lived, as Hongchan responded with an almost perfect 91.20 to retake the lead, while her compatriot, 10m synchro Olympic champion Chen Yuxi, slipped into second with an 86.40.
A consistent display over the first three rounds from Kim Mi Rae saw the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea diver complete a top four that had all secured at least 220 points overall at the halfway stage.
The fourth round saw Hongchan step things up again with the dive of the day, a back 3.5 somersaults in tuck that was awarded four perfect 10s and a total of 97.35.
Another spectacular final round saw the Chinese prodigy secure the gold medal with a score of 86.40, to give her an overall total of 436.25.
Chen Yuxi secured silver with 427.80, while Spendolini-Sirieix took her second medal of the event, a podium in bronze with 377.10.
Meanwhile, twins Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi also clinched a gold medal for China in the artistic swimming at Aspire Dome yesterday.
Liuyi and Qianyi – the 27-year-old sisters – topped the women’s duet technical routine after accumulating 266.0484 points while Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe gave Britain a silver medal after earning 259.5601 points. Spain’s Alisa Ozhogina Ozhogin and Iris Tio Casa secured bronze medal with a tally of 258.0333 points.
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Following the conclusion of the Women Duet Technical event, the Italian Artistic Swimming Team Leader submitted a protest in accordance with the World Aquatics Competition Regulations.
After a thorough review by the event referee, the protest submitted by the Italian federation was found to be valid and thus approved. Consequently, the Italian Women’s Technical Duet team comprised of Linda Cerruti and Lucrezia Ruggiero were reassessed and awarded a revised score of 249.9433, resulting in their placement as sixth in the event standings.
Artistic swimming is split into 11 medal-winning opportunities at the World Championships. There are only two events on the Olympic program, duet and team. Men have competed in artistic swimming at the world championships since 2015, when the sport was still known as synchronized swimming. They are eligible for the Olympics for the first time in Paris.
Also yesterday, China’s Shuncheng Yang claimed gold medal in Artistic Swimming | Men Solo Technical after scoring 246.4766 points, ahead of Italy’s Giorgio Minisini, who settled for a silver medal with 245.3166 points. Colombia’s Gustavo Sanchez was third after he earned 231.0000 points.