Chinese divers go 5-for-5 at World Aquatics Championships in Japan

©  Clive Rose/Getty Images
© Clive Rose/Getty Images

Fukuoka, Japan, July 16, 2023: Chinese diver Peng Jianfeng won his first world title in six years from his favoured 1m springboard at the World Aquatics Championships on Sunday, reports Xinhua News.

The 29-year-old Peng, who last won the gold medal in this event at the Budapest world championships in 2017, scored a total of 440.45 points in six dives. 

Mexico's Osamar Olvera Ibarra, 19, finished second with 428.85 points, 11.60 behind, and Peng's teammate Zheng Jiuyuan, 19, took third place with 418.30 – 22.15 points off the top.

The Chinese team, which swept 13 diving gold medals in last year's Budapest worlds, later extended their golden run to five from five diving events when teenagers Chen Yuxi, 17, and Quan Hongchan, 16, won the women’s 10m synchro with 369.84 points – a whopping 58.08 seconds clear of the field.

Great Britain’s Andrea Spendolini Sirieix and Lois Toulson came in second with 311.76 and the United States’ Delaney Schnell and Jessica Parratto won the bronze with 294.42 - 75.42 points behind the Chinese champions.

JAPNESE SISTER AND BROTHER WIN MIXED DUET TECHNICAL

Host nation Japan picked up a second gold medal in artistic swimming on Sunday thanks to Tomoka Sato, 21, and her younger brother Yotaro Sato, 18, in the mixed duet technical.

The Japanese pair, whose routine was marked at 30.30 total difficulty, earned 103.30 points for artistic impression and 152.2066 for execution for a golden score of 255.5066.

Spain’s Emma Garcia and Dennis Gonzalez Boneu won the silver medal with 248.0499 points, 7.4567 behind, and China’s Cheng Wentao and Shi Haoyu finished third on 247.3033 - 8.2033 points adrift of the Japanese champions.

In the last event of the night, Japan added a third gold medal to their collection with victory in the artistic swimming women duet technical.

Moe Higa, 15, and Mashiro Yasunaga, 24, scored 101.90 for artistic impression and 172.05 for execution and a winning total of 273.9500 – 10.9166 points ahead of Italian silver medallists Linda Cerruti and Lucrezia Ruggiero with 263.0334.      

Spain’s Alisa Ozhogina Ozhogin and Iris Tio Casas were third with 257.8368, beating China’s Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi (249.4099) for the bronze medal.

China ended the weekend on top of the medal rankings with five gold, one silver and two bronze, followed by Japan (3-0-1) in second place.

The World Aquatics Championships are running from July 14-30 in the six disciplines of swimming, artistic swimming, diving, high diving, water polo and open water swimming.