FINA diving World series 2018: two gold medals for team China on day 1
The competition for the medals of the concluding round of the FINA Diving World Series is underway in the capital city of the Republic of Tatarstan. The first competition day was marked with both sensations and expected results. The evening session wrapped up with the men’s and women’s 3m springboard synchro events.
The women’s part of the competition programme ran quite predictably. China’s Tingmao SHI/Yani CHANG took the lead from the very first round of dives. Nobody could compete against them. They were the best with the score of 316.2 points. Jennifer Abel and Melissa Citrini-Beaulieu of Canada needed 15 points to cover the gap and claim gold. Grace Reid and Katherine Torrance of Team Great Britain were placed third, earning 289.29 points for five dives.
Russia’s Nadezhda Bazhina and Kristina Ilinykh failed their fifth round.One of the partners took off earlier than the other, so the zero-point score threw the hosts of the competitions back into the last place. Team China also leads in the overall ranking of this discipline, whereas Canada and Australia breathe down their necks.
Duets in the men’s 3m springboard synchro event desperately fought for the win. Cao Yuan / Xie Siyi of China and Evgeny Kuznetsov / Ilia Zakharov of Russia were the major favourites of the line-up. As a result, Team China added a gold medal to the national telly (457.98 points), Kuznetsov and Zakharov ensured the second place with a 20-point deficit. The third spot of the victory podium was awarded by the Ukrainian divers Alexander Gorshkovozov and Oleg Kolodiy (419.82 points).
The Chinese powerhouse continues to build on their leading position in the overall ranking. The athletes from this country were unexceptionally crowned champions in this discipline during all the legs of the FINA Diving World Series. The Russian national team is placed second, Team Ukraine is third.