Fukuoka (Japan): Australia’s Cassiel Rousseau claimed the men’s 10m platform title on Saturday to stop China from a clean sweep of all diving gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships.
China, who has won all other 12 diving events, still managed to secure the silver and bronze.
Rousseau, who was fourth in last year’s Budapest world championships, pulled ahead after the fifth dive when previous round leader Lian Junjie’s poor execution of 207B — back 3.5 somersaults pike — earned only 70.20 points, reports Xinhua.
Before the final round, Rousseau had built a lead of 1.05 points over second-placed Kyle Kothari of Britain. Lian was third with 8.50 points adrift.
In the final round, Rousseau and Lian, who uncorked the same dive, both earned 98.05 points, which was enough for Rousseau to seal the victory with a total of 520.85 points.
Lian took silver in 512.35 and his Chinese teammate Yang Hao finished third in 504.00. Kothari dropped to the fifth after he faltered in the last dive.
“I knew that I was going to come in the first place before that final dive,” said a jubilant Rousseau. “Rather than being nervous, I was just excited by the realization of the fact that I actually had the possibility of taking the gold medal.”
“All my training up until this point has led me to this moment of overwhelming triumph. To completely fulfil the potential that was granted to me by that final dive was absolutely incredible.”
Lian, twice world champion in the 10m synchronized platform, praised Rousseau’s performance as “excellent” and also admitted he failed to “perform well”.
“This 10m platform diving is always highly competitive, so I felt slightly pressured,” he said. “My next goal is, more than anything, the Olympic Games in Paris next year. I want to do better in the Olympics.”
China wins 15th gold
China increased its lead on the medal table at the World Aquatics Championships by winning two more gold medals on Saturday when diving and artistic swimming wrapped up their final day’s competition.
Cheng Wentao and Shi Haoyu claimed the mixed duet free title, their second gold and third medal at the Fukuoka World Championships following their victory in the team acrobatic event and mixed duet technical bronze.
Zhu Zifeng and Lin Shan afterwards claimed the mixed 3m synchronized springboard title for China, its 12th from diving and 15th overall.
But China, who swept all 13 diving gold medals in last year’s Budapest World Championships, saw its monopoly of world titles broken by Australia’s Cassiel Rousseau, who secured the title of the men’s 10m platform with a near-perfect last dive.
China leads the tally with 15 gold, five silver and four bronze medals. Japan is second on 4-1-3 and Germany third on 4-0-2.
The United States stays on 10th with two silver and four bronze medals but gold medals are expected to come soon for them when the swimming competition kicks off on Sunday.
(IANS)
