By Michael Church, OCA Media
Tokyo, Japan, September 29, 2026: Wang Zongyuan claimed his third gold medal of the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 on Tuesday as the Chinese diver secured victory in the 3 metre springboard at Tokyo Aquatic Centre.
Wang, twice the silver medallist at the Olympic Games in this event, finished comfortably clear of the rest of the field to add to his earlier successes in the synchronised event with teammate Zheng Jiuyuan and in the individual 1 metre springboard.
The 24-year-old collected 494.40 points to take the gold and maintain China’s dominance in the diving ahead of Zheng on 419.75 points. Japan’s Sho Sasaki secured the bronze medal with a total of 376.40 points.
“First of all, I'm very happy. I feel like I've created a different version of myself,” said Wang. “Setting out to compete in three events and challenge for three gold medals was no small challenge.
“Especially as I've gotten older, competing in three events has become much more difficult for me. So I'm really happy that I was able to grit my teeth, give everything I had and win gold in all three events.
“Although my performances, from the synchronized event to the 1-meter springboard and 3-meter springboard, were not perfect, I'm very fortunate that I was able to achieve my goal in the end.”
Second-placed Zheng recovered from a near-disastrous opening dive to climb the rankings, although his progress was stalled by a second disappointing performance in the fourth round.
However, the 22-year-old’s fifth and sixth dives were the best in the field and the 93.60 points he secured for a superbly-executed forward two-and-a-half somersaults with three twists and a pike in the final round took him above Sasaki and into second.
“I was probably just too excited,” said Zheng of his faltering start. “After the first dive, I felt like I couldn't really control myself. Once I got out of the water, I forced myself to calm down and suppress that excitement. After that, I just followed my usual training routine.
“Before the competition, I basically thought through every possible situation that could happen, so I was able to respond well afterward.
“I also performed the remaining dives normally, and on the final dive…I thought it was pretty normal. That's the level I usually reach in training, so I just did the dive the way I normally would.”
Consistency was key to Sasaki’s bronze medal win, the Japanese diver never achieving higher than fifth in any single round of diving but his performance was steady enough to see him finish 3.1 points ahead of Korea’s Kim Yeong-taek.