By Michael Church, OCA Media
Tokyo, Japan, September 28, 2026: China’s Lin Shan won gold in the women’s 1 metre springboard at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 diving at Tokyo Aquatic Centre on Monday, moving one step up the podium from her performance at Hangzhou 2022.
The 25-year-old made the most of an error by team mate Long Yiping in the penultimate round of dives to claim first place with 263.05 points as Long took silver on 254.25 points. Korea’s Kim Su-ji won the bronze with 245.05 points.
“Although the result is quite good, I'm not very satisfied with the process,” said Lin, who won silver three years ago.
“I didn't really showcase my strengths. Although each dive was fairly stable, they weren't beautiful enough. The execution wasn't refined enough.
“This event requires high standards. If we don't demand enough of ourselves, we can't become the very best in the world.”
Lin’s consistency was the key to winning gold ahead of Long, who occupied pole position in the standings until an error in the penultimate round – a forward three-and-a-half somersaults with tuck give a 3.0 degree of difficulty – ended her hopes of first place.
“Not really disappointed, more regretful,” said Long, who is appearing at her first Asian Games. “I made a pretty big mistake on that dive. I know I can do it well in training, so it was more a sense of regret than disappointment.
“I was very excited to be able to participate in the Asian Games. The environment and the venues here are all quite nice. As for my performance, I think I'm still a little lacking in some areas. It also gives me more things to work on and correct in future training.
“Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. When we do make mistakes, we just need to go back and work on correcting them.”
Korea’s Kim narrowly missed out on silver but prevailed in the battle for bronze ahead of Hong Kong China’s Chan Tsz Ming with strong performances in her final two dives taking her on to the podium after an opening dive that saw her ranked seventh.
“It was not a competition I was happy with, but I think I gave everything I had,” said the 28-year-old, who also won bronze in Hangzhou. “The margin was a narrow one, which is a shame. I just tried to concentrate on my own diving right to the end.
“I thought this might be my last Asian Games, so I did not want to be left with regrets. I trained as hard as I possibly could.”
