China Keeps Sweep Alive; US Wins First Medal in Diving

2023 World Aquatics Championships – DIVING

• July 14-22, 2023
• Fukuoka Prefectural Pool, Fukuoka, Japan
• Competition Results

China remains perfect in gold medals in diving so far at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, though their ‘best possible’ streak has already come to a close at the hands of a Mexican interlude

Meanwhile, Great Britain continues to impress in synchronized events, now owning three silver medals in four pairs events so far in the competition.

Men’s 1-Meter Springboard

1. Peng Jianfeng, China – 440.45
2. Osmar Olvera Ibarra, Mexico – 428.85
3. Zheng Jiuyuan, China – 418.30
4. Juan Celaya Hernandez, Mexico – 406.25
5. Li Shixin, Australia – 400.55

It was a battle between Mexico and China in the men’s 1-meter springboard event, which each country taking a moral victory.

Peng Jianfeng, 29, won his 2nd career World Championship on 1-meter after a previous victory in 2017. He fought off a huge final dive from Osmar Olvera Ibarra of Mexico, who scored 81 points on a 5154B to cement silver and upend the Chinese chance at a perfect competition.

Ibarra’s final dive had a degree of difficulty of 3.6. Only one other diver, German Moritz Weseman (6th place), attempted a dive as difficult as that in the final.

That was the first career World Championship medal for Olvera, who is only 19. He was the youngest diver on the Mexican squad at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

China’s Zheng Jiuyuan, who turned 19 earlier this year himself, is the young upstart of the program and took his first international medal in the event.

Juan Celaya-Hernandez, who dives in the US at LSU, gave Mexico a second finisher in the top four. 5th place went to another Chinese diver, of sorts – 35-year-old Li Shixin now represents Australia, but was born in China and began his career competing there. That includes back-to-back World Championships in this event in 2011 and 2013 for China and a bronze medal at last year’s World Championships for Australia.

The gold and silver medalists from last year’s World Championships, Wang Zongyuan and Jack Laugher, both didn’t compete in this year’s event. In fact, only three of the 12 finalists from last year returned to the final this year.

The Americans Jack Ryan and Lyle Yost finished 9th and 13th, respectively.

China has now won nine consecutive World Championships in this event.

Men’s 10-Meter Synchro

1. Lian Junjie/Yang Hao, China – 477.75
2. Kirill Boliukh/Oleksiy Sereda, Ukraine – 439.32
3. Kevin Berlin/Randal Willars, Mexico – 434.16
4. Matty Lee/Noah Williams, Great Britain – 419.82
5. Domonic Bedggood/Cassiel Rousseau, Australia – 407.46

China again won gold in the men’s 10-meeter synchro event, their 5th consecutive title in the event. Yang Hao has been part of three of those, winning last year with Lian Junjie, his partner this year, and in 2017 with Chen Aisen.

The pair were flawless throughout the competition: they received almost as many perfect-10 scores from judges (14) as they did scores below 9 (15) throughout the competition.

An emotional moment came in this event when the young teenage pair of Kirill Boliukh, 16, and Oleksiy Sereda, 17, finished with a silver medal. That is Ukraine’s first medal amid the ongoing Russian invasion that has ripped through their country’s sporting, civilian, and military infrastructure.

The Americans Jordan Rzepka and Brandon Loschiavo finished 6th, about 68 points out of the medals.

Women’s 3-Meter Synchro

1. Chang Yani/Chen Yiwen, China – 341.94
2. Yasmin Harper/Scarlett Mew Jensen, Great Britain – 296.58
3. Elena Bertocchi/Chiara Pellacani, Italy – 285.99
4. Sarah Bacon/Kassidy Cook, USA – 285.39
5. Mia Vallee/Pamela Ware, Canada – 284.22

The American pair of Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook were the second-best pair in prelims and were in medal position through the fourth of five rounds in the women’s 3-meter synchro final, but a poor final dive, scoring only 11th-best in the round, dropped them to 4th and off the medal stand by just six-tenths of a point.

Instead it was a 12th-straight gold in the event for the CHinese women and another title defense by Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen.

For Chang, this is a third gold medal – she won with a different partner in 2017.

The Chinese women dominated the event, leading wire-to-wire with the highest-scoring dive in each round.

Women’s 10-Meter Synchro

1. Chen Yuci/Quan Hongchan, China – 369.84
2. Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix,/Lois Toulson, Great Britain – 311.76
3. Jessica Parrattoo/Delaney Schnell, US – 294.42
4. Gabriela Agundez/Alejandra Orozco, Mexico – 291.18
5. Matsuri Arai/Minami Itahashi, Japan – 284.76

More medals for China and Great Britain and a breakthrough bronze for the Americans highlighted the women’s 10-meter synchro event.

Chen Yuci and Quan Hongchan won their second straight World Championship in the event, scoring a point more than last year en route to victory.

They beat the British pair of Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson, who finished 2nd, 58 points behind.

The Americans Jessica Parratto and Delaney Schnell gave the US their first diving medal of the competition, 17 points back of the Brits. Schnell won silver last year with Katrina Young, but this year is diving with Parratto, who is the daughter of Minnesota swim coach Mike Parratto, who, among others, coached Regan Smith and Jenny Thompson.

Medals Table after 3 Days of Competition

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	7	1	1	9
2	Great Britain	0	3	0	3
3	Mexico	0	2	2	4
4	Ukraine	0	1	0	1
5	France	0	0	1	1
	Italy	0	0	1	1
	Japan*	0	0	1	1
	United States	0	0	1	1
Totals (8 entries)		7	7	7	21