China is synonymous with diving excellence and 27-year-old Tingmao Shi is a major reason why.
Pain was no barrier to her third consecutive World Championships gold in the 3 m Springboard, winning by 391.00-372.85 over countrywoman Han Wang (CHN) at the FINA World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju (KOR). Shi said afterwards:
“It was my fifth presence at the Worlds, from a rookie to a veteran. It was harder and harder each time to win the gold medal as the competition was very close today. I have a bad waist injury but I had to overcome the pain to focus on my own dives. The victory boosted my confidence on the way to Tokyo Olympic Games.”
Wang won her third silver in the event, in 2013-17-19, where Shi has won in 2015-17-19 and now has a total of seven Worlds golds, and one silver. She’s the reigning Olympic champ in the event heading into Tokyo.
Australia’s Maddison Keeney won the bronze, her first Worlds medal in an Olympic event, and she was delighted:
“This is my first individual medal at World Championships. It really means a lot to me because I’ve always been away from the podium. The competition was really hard and close. I felt lucky I was competing with the best divers in the world. Shi and Wang are incredible athletes. I learn something from them every time. And they’re my good friends as well. I’m pleased to have a healthy, competitive relationship with them.”
(It’s a remarkable comment from Kenney, considering she won the 1 m Springboard at the 2017 Worlds. But since it’s not an Olympic event, does it count? Not for Keeney, apparently.)
China continued to win without end, sweeping its 11th gold medal of the diving competition. It has not only won every event – with two remaining – but has gone 1-2 in both of the individual Olympic events on the program.
And these victories aren’t close. China’s average margin of victory so far is a hard-to-fathom 31.12 points:
= 20.10 ~ Men/1 m Springboard: Zongyuan Wang
= 27.50 ~ Men/3 m Springboard: Siyi Xie (over Yuan Cao/CHN)
= 24.72 ~ Men/3 m Synchro: Siyi Xie/Yuan Cao
= 42.33 ~ Men/10 m Synchro: Yuan Cao/Aisen Chen
= 23.45 ~ Women/1 m Springboard: Yiwen Chen
= 18.15 ~ Women/3 m Springboard: Tingmao Shi (over Han Wang/CHN)
= 61.20 ~ Women/10 m Platform: Yuxi Chen (over Wei Lu/CHN)
= 30.90 ~ Women/3 m Synchro: Han Wang/Tingmao Shi
= 32.52 ~ Women/10 m Synchro: Jiaqi Zhang/Wei Lu
= 34.86 ~ Mixed/10 m Synchro: Junjie Lian/Yajie Si
= 26.60 ~ Mixed/3 m+10 m: Shan Lin/Jian Yang
History check: No country has won all 13 events at the FINA Worlds since the diving program was expanded in 2015. China won 8/13 events in 2017, 10/13 in 2015, 9/10 in 2013 and swept all 10 events in 2011.
In Artistic Swimming, Russia won the Team Free competition with a gaudy 98.0000 score and has won all eight of the competitions it has entered – it did not contest the Team Highlight event – with two more remaining on Saturday. The Russian entries led the preliminary rounds in both the Team Free Combination and Mixed Duet Free programs.
In Open Water Swimming, Brazil’s indefatigable Ana Marcela Cunha defended her 25 km title in difficult, rainy conditions, finishing 8.6 seconds ahead of Germany’s Finnia Wunram, 5:08:03.0 to 5:08:11.6. It’s Cunha’s fourth World Championships gold in the 25 km, also having won in 2011-15-17. She also won the 5 km gold earlier in the week and finished fifth in the 10 km and qualified for the Tokyo 2020 race.
The men’s race was almost beyond belief, as after 15.5 miles of swimming, France’s Axel Reymond won the gold in a sprint over Russia’s Kirill Belyaev, 4:51:06.2-4:51:06.5!
In Water Polo, the men’s group phase was completed with Serbia (2-0-1), Croatia (3-0), Hungary (3-0) and Italy (3-0) heading to the quarterfinals. The U.S. finished second to Croatia in Group B (2-1), thanks to a 12-11 win over Australia in its final group game. The Americans will now play Greece (1-1-1) on Sunday for an opportunity to play Italy.
France won the men’s exhibition “Beach Water Polo” tournament, defeating Argentina, 22-17 in the final. Canada defeated China for the bronze medal, 19-18.
Summaries so far:
FINA World Aquatics Championships
Gwangju (KOR) ~ 12-28 July 2019
(Full results here)
ARTISTIC SWIMMING
Solo Technical: 1. Svetlana Kolesnichenko (RUS), 95.0023; 2. Ona Carbonell (ESP), 92.5002; 3. Yukiko Inui (JPN), 92.3084; 4. Marta Fiedina (UKR), 91.3014; 5. Jacqueline Simoneau (CAN), 89.2932; 6. Linda Cerruti (ITA), 88.0378; 7. Evangelia Platanioti (GRE), 86.2921; 8. Vasiliki Alexandri (AUT), 85.6098.
Solo Free: 1. Svetlana Romashina (RUS), 97.1333; 2. Carbonell (ESP), 94.5667; 3. Inui (JPN), 93.2000; 4. Fiedina (UKR), 92.5667; 5. Simoneau (CAN), 90.7000; 6. Cerruti (ITA), 90.4667; 7. Platanioti (GRE), 88.6667; 8. Alexandri (AUT), 87.1667. Also: 12. Anita Alvarez (USA), 84.7333.
Duet Technical: 1. Svetlana Romashina/Svetlana Kolesnichenko (RUS), 95.9010; 2. Wenyan Sun/Xuechen Huang (CHN), 94.0072; 3. Anastasiya Savchuk/Marta Fiedina (UKR), 92.5847; 4. Megumu Yoshida/Yukiko Inui (JPN), 92.116; 5. Linda Cerutti/Costanza Ferro (ITA), 90.1743; 6. Jacqueline Simoneau/Claudia Holzner (CAN), 88.8659; 7. Paula Ramirez/Sara Saldana Lopez (ESP), 87.2960; 8. Eirini Alexandri/Anna-Maria Alexandri (AUT), 87.0654. Also: 12. Ruby Remati/Anita Alvarez (USA), 84.0190.
Duet Free: 1. Romashina/Kolesnichenko (RUS), 97.500; 2. Huang/Sun (CHN), 95.7667; 3. Fiedina/Savchuk (UKR), 94.1000; 4. Inui/Yoshida (JPN), 93.0000; 5. Carbonell/Ramirez (ESP), 91.7000; 6. Cerruti/Ferro (ITA), 91.0000; 7. Holzner/Simoneau (CAN), 89.7667; 8. Charlotte Tremble/Laura Tremble (FRA), 88.0000. Also: 12. Remati/Alvarez (USA), 83.6333.
Team Technical: 1. Russia, 96.9426; 2. China, 95.1543; 3. Ukraine, 93.4514; 4. Japan, 92.7207; 5. Italy, 91.0411; 6. Spain, 90.2506; 7. Canada, 89.4990; 8. Greece, 87.0863. Also: 11. United States, 84.0566.
Team Free: 1. Russia, 98.0000; 2. China, 96.0333; 3. Ukraine, 94.3667; 4. Japan, 93.3667; 5. Italy, 91.6000; 6. Spain, 91.4000; 7. Canada, 90.1000; 8. Greece, 88.3333. Also: 11. United States, 84.4000.
Team Highlight: 1. Ukraine, 94.5000; 2. Italy. 91.7333; 3. Spain, 91.1333; 4. Canada, 89.3333; 5. France, 87.2000; 6. Israel, 83.7000 7. Hungary. 77.5667; 8. Thailand, 71.1333.
Mixed Duet Technical: 1. Mayya Gurbanberdieva/Aleksandr Maltsev (RUS), 92.0749; 2. Manila Flamini/Giorgio Minisini (ITA), 90.8511; 3. Atsushi Abe/Yumi Adachi (JPN), 88.5113; 4. Bill May/Natalia Vega Figueroa (USA), 86.9235; 5. Haoyu Shi/Yayi Zhang (CHN), 85.5881; 6. Pau Ribes/Emma Garcia (ESP), 84.4015; 7. Renan Souza/Giovana Stephan (BRA), 79.4495; 8. Jennifer Cerquera Hatiusca/Gustavo Sanchez (COL), 77.5388.
DIVING
Men
1 m Springboard: 1. Zongyuan Wang (CHN), 440.25; 2. Rommel Pacheco (MEX), 420.15; 3. Jianfeng Peng (CHN), 415.00; 4. Haram Woo (KOR), 406.15; 5. Patrick Hausding (GER), 405.05; 6. Briadam Herrera (USA), 399.90; 7. Oleg Kolodiy (UKR), 396.40; 8. Kacper Lesiak (POL), 380.05.
3 m Springboard: 1. Siyi Xie (CHN), 545.45; 2. Yuan Cao (CHN), 517.95; 3. Jack Laugher (GBR), 504.55; 4. Haram Woo (KOR), 478.80; 5. David Boudia (USA), 458.10; 6. Patrick Hausding (GER), 452.25; 7. Mike Hixon (USA), 449.95; 8. Rommel Pacheco (MEX), 443.30.
3 m Synchro: 1. Siyi Xie/Yuan Cao (CHN), 439.74; 2. Jack Laugher/Daniel Goodfellow (GBR), 415.02; 3. Juan Celaya/Yahei Castillo (MEX), 413.94; 4. Lars Rudiger/Patrick Hausding (GER), 399.87; 5. Nikita Shleikher/Evgenii Kuznetsov (RUS), 396.81; 6. Oleksandr Gorshkovozov/Oleg Kolodiy (UKR), 393.24; 7. Sho Sakai/Ken Terauchi (JPN), 389.43; 8. Andrew Capobianco/Mike Hixon (USA), 388.08.
10 m Synchro: 1. Yuan Cao/Aisen Chen (CHN), 486.93; 2. Viktor Minibaev/Aleksandr Bondar (RUS), 444.60; 3. Tom Daley/Matty Lee (GBR), 425.91; 4. Oleksii Sereda/Oleh Serbin (UKR), 412.62; 5. Domonic Bedggood/Declan Stacey (AUS), 411.24; 6. Yeongnam Kim/Haram Woo (KOR), 401.67; 7. Kevin Berlin Reyes/Ivan Garcia (MEX), 400.71; 8. Benjamin Bramley/Steele Johnson (USA), 383.79.
Women
1 m Springboard: 1. Yiwen Chen (CHN), 285.45; 2. Sarah Bacon (USA), 262.00; 3. Suji Kim (KOR), 257.20; 4. Katherine Torrance (GBR), 255.40; 5. Kristina Ilinykh (RUS), 252.80; 6. Yani Chang (CHN), 251.95; 7. Elena Bertocchi (ITA), 245.60; 8. Elizabeth Cui (NZL), 244.20. Also: 10. Maria Coburn (USA), 237.75.
3 m Springboard: 1. Tingmao Shi (CHN), 391.00; 2. Han Wang (CHN), 372.85; 3. Maddison Keeney (AUS), 367.05; 4. Jennifer Abel (CAN), 333.35; 5. Sayaka Mikami (JPN), 323.05; 6. Esther Qin (AUS), 302.85; 7. Pam Ware (CAN), 290.20; 8. Grace Reid (GBR), 286.95.
10 m Platform: 1. Yuxi Chen (CHN), 439.00; 2. Wei Lu (CHN), 377.80; 3. Delaney Schnell (USA), 364.20; 4. Melissa Wu (AUS), 360.20; 5. Pandelela Pamg (MAS), 349.25; 6. Meaghan Benfeito (CAN), 347.80; 7. Caeli McKay (CAN), 331.40; 8. Noemi Batki (ITA), 328.90. Also: 11. Amelia Magana (USA), 305.00.
3 m Synchro: 1. Han Wang/Tingmao Shi (CHN), 342.00; 2. Melissa Citrini Beaulieu/Jennifer Abel (CAN), 311.10; 3. Paola Espinosa/Melany Hernandez (MEX), 294.90; 4. Kristina Ilinykh/Mariia Poliakova (RUS), 292.80; 5. Grace Reid/Katherine Torrance (GBR), 289.80; 6. Annabelle Smith/Maddison Keeney (AUS), 278.13; 7. Celine Van Duijin/Inge Jensen (NED), 277.50; 8. Yan Yee Ng/Nur Dhabitah Sabri (MAS), 277.35. Also: 10. Krysta Palmer/Alison Gibson (USA), 274.47.
10 m Synchro: 1. Jiaqi Zhang/Wei Lu (CHN), 345.24; 2. Mun Yee Leong/Pandelela Pamg (MAS), 312.72; 3. Murphy Bromberg/Katrina Young (USA), 304.86; 4. Meaghan Benfeito/Caeli McKay (CAN), 304.05; 5. Iullia Timoshinina/Ekaterina Beliaeva (RUS), 291.30; 6. Lois Toulson/Eden Cheng (GBR), 289.14; 7. Chiara Pellacani/Noemi Batki (ITA), 280.38; 8. Melissa Wu/Emily Chinnock (AUS), 277.44.
Mixed
10 m Synchro: 1. Junjie Lian/Yajie Si (CHN), 346.14; 2. Ekaterina Beliaeva/Viktor Minibaev (RUS), 311.28; 3. Maria Sanchez/Jose Balleza (MEX), 287.64; 4. Noah Williams/Robyn Birch (GBR), 285.18; 5. Olivia Rosendahl/Zach Cooper (USA), 267.96; 6. Maicol Verzotto/Noemi Batki (ITA), 259.62; 7. Jiwook Kim/Halim Kwon (KOR), 247.20; 8. Ingrid Oliveira/Isaac Filho (BRA), 239.46.
3 m & 10 m: 1. Shan Lin/Jian Yang (CHN), 416.65; 2. Iullia Timoshinina/Sergey Nazin (RUS), 390.05; 3. Andrew Capobianco/Katrina Young (USA), 357.0; 4. Mun Yee Leong/Yiwei Chew (MAS), 347.80; 5. Laura Hingston/Cassiel Rousseau (AUS), 329.30; 6. Ross Haslam/Eden Chang (GBR), 327.90; 7. Sebastian Villa Castenada/Diana Pineda (COL), 325.40; 8. Lars Rudiger/Maria Kurjo (GER), 324.50.
OPEN WATER SWIMMING
Men
5 km: 1. Kristof Rasovszky (HUN), 53:22.10; 2. Logan Fontaine (FRA), 53:32.20; 3. Eric Hedlin (CAN), 53:32.40; 4. Matej Kozubek (CZE), 53:33.60; 5. Domenico Acerenza (ITA), 53:34.00; 6. Daniel Szekelyi (HUN), 5:34.40; 7. Bailey Armstrong (AUS), 53:34.80; 8. Kirill Abrosimov (RUS), 53:35.50. Also: 14. Brennan Gravley (USA), 53:37.80
10 km: 1. Florian Wellbrock (GER), 1:47:55.90; 2. Marc-Antoine Olivier (FRA), 1:47:56.10; 3. Rob Muffels (GER), 1:47:57.40; 4. Rasovszky (HUN), 1:47:59.50; 5. Jordan Wilimovsky (USA), 1:48:01.00; 6. Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA), 1:48:01.00; 7. Ferry Weertman (NED), 1:48:01.90; 8. Alberto Martinez (ESP), 1:48:02.20. Also: 25. David Heron (USA), 1:49:57.60.
25 km: 1. Axel Reymond (FRA), 4:51:06.2; 2. Kirill Belyaev (RUS), 4:51:06.5; 3. Alessio Occhipinti (ITA), 4:51:09.5; 4. Simone Ruffini (ITA), 4:51:14.9; 5. Kai Edwards (AUS), 4:51:17.2; 6. Evgenii Drattcev (RUS), 4:51:19.6; 7. Alberto Martinez (ESP), 4:51:44.1; 8. Andreas Waschburger (GER), 4:52:26.3. Also: 14. Heron (USA), 4:55:11.8; 15. Gravley (USA), 4:57:17.5.
Women
5 km: 1. Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA), 57:56.0; 2. Aurelie Muller (FRA), 57:57.0; 3. tie, Hannah Moore (USA) and Leonie Beck (GER), 57:58.0; 5. Rachele Bruni (ITA), 57:58.7; 6. Giulia Gabbrielleschi (ITA), 57:59.0; 7. Ashley Twichell (USA), 58:00.0; 8. Yawen Hou (CHN), 58:00.9.
10 km: 1. Xin Xin (CHN), 1:54:47.20; 2. Haley Anderson (USA), 1:54:48.10; 3. Bruni (ITA), 1:54:49.90; 4. Lara Grangeon (FRA), 1:54:50.00; 5. Cunha (BRA), 1:54:50.50; 6. Twichell (USA), 1:54:50.50; 7. Kareena Lee (AUS), 1:54:50.50; 8. Finnia Wunram (GER), 1:54:50.70.
25 km: 1. Cunha (BRA), 5:08:03.0; 2. Wunram (GER), 5:08:11.6; 3. Lara Grangeon (FRA), 5:08:21.2; 4. Lisa Pou (FRA), 5:08:28.4; 5. Erica Sullivan (USA), 5:11:23.2; 6. Anna Olasz (HUN), 5:11:51.5; 7. Arianna Bridi (ITA), 5:11:52.6; 8. Onon Somenek (HUN), 5:11:54.7. Also: 9. Katy Campbell (USA), 5:11:59.6.
Mixed
5 km Relay: 1. Germany, 53:58.7; 2. Italy, 53:58.9; 3. United States (Haley Anderson, Jordan Wilimovsky, Ashley Twichell, Michael Brinegar), 53:59.0; 4. Brazil, 54:24.5; 5. Australia, 54:36.8; 6. France, 54:37.1; 7. Netherlands, 54:37.2; 8. Hungary, 55:02.7.
