DOHA, Qatar (AP) — On a golden day for China, reigning Olympic champion Quan Hongchan gave herself a huge boost of momentum heading into the Paris Games by winning the 10-meter platform at the World Aquatics Championships on Monday.
The 16-year-old Chinese star edged teammate Chen Yuxi, totaling 436.25 points over five dives. Chen, the two-time reigning world champion, settled for a silver this time with 427.80.
No one else was even close to the Chinese duo. Britain’s Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix grabbed the final spot on the podium with 377.10 for the bronze.
China dominated Day 4 of the world championships in Doha, with the diving triumph augmented by a pair of victories in artistic swimming.
After dominating the big tower over the last three years, Quan and Chen are overwhelming favorites to battle for gold in Paris.
Quan edged Chen for the top spot at the Tokyo Games in 2021, while their positions were reversed at the 2022 worlds in Budapest and the 2023 championships in Fukuoka.
Now, it’s Quan back on top.
China, which sent a scaled-back team to Doha with the Olympics just five months away, has still won three of the first six events. The other golds have been divvied up among Britain, Australia and Mexico.
China finished on top Monday in both artistic swimming events, as well.
Twins Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi won the women’s duet technical routine, while Yang Shuncheng took gold in men’s solo technical.
The 27-year-old sisters received 266.0484 points. Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe gave Britain its best showing ever at worlds, capturing the silver with marks of 259.5601. The country’s only other medal in artistic swimming was Shortman’s solo free bronze at last summer’s championships in Fukuoka.
Spain’s Alisa Ozhogina Ozhogin and Iris Tio Casa grabbed bronze at 258.0333, repeating their finish from 2023.
The Wangs were back on top in duet technical after a disappointing fourth-place showing at Fukuoka. They had previously won the event at the 2022 worlds in Budapest.
The siblings have combined for eight gold medals over their world championship careers, including two in Doha. They were part of the winning group in the team acrobatic event on Sunday.
Italy’s Linda Cerruti and Lucrezia Ruggiero, who captured the silver in Fukuoka, initially finished ninth but were bumped up to sixth with a revised score after a successful protest. The reigning world champions from Japan did not compete.
The 16-year-old Yang earned gold with the final swim of the men’s event, totaling 246.4766 points. He edged Italy’s Giorgio Minisini (245.3166), with the bronze going to Colombia’s Gustavo Sanchez (231.0000).
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.
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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
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