Chinese Pick Up Two More Gold Medals at FINA Diving World Cup

CHANGSHU, China, July 22. ONCE again, the Chinese contingent cruised in front of a friendly crowd in Changshu, China on Saturday at the 15th-Annual FINA Diving World Cup as Wu Minxia held off a hard-charging Yuliya Pakhalina of Russia to capture three-meter women’s gold, while Zhou Luxin and Lin Yue swept the top-two spot in dominant fashion in the individual platform competition

In the women’s event, Minxia briefly fell into second place behind teammate Guo Jingjing, who finished third with a 368.40-point performance, after the initial round of diving. Minxia, however, built a seemingly insurmountable lead through the next three rounds. That string of dives included a third-round forward 3.5 somersault for 80.60 points.

Meanwhile, Pakhalina came within a whisker hair of pulling off an incredible upset as the Russian nearly dove from third place into gold during her final dive. After Minxia opened the door with a 58.50-point tally on her final dive (a reverse 2.5 somersault), Pakhalina nailed a tremendous forward 2.5 somersault with a twist for 84.00 points.

The effort earned Pakhalina best dive of the finals session, but fell a scant 0.55 points off Minxia’s total to finish with silver.

On the men’s side of the ticket, Luxin and Yue put on a diving clinic for their home crowd as the two battled for gold in the platform. Luxin remained in first from wire-to-wire, but nearly gave up a 20-point lead heading into the final dive.

After connecting on a second-round back 2.5 somersault with 1.5 twists for an incredible 100.30 points, he posted a second effort more than 100 points in the fourth round by tallying 102.00 points with a reverse 3.5 somersault.

Meanwhile, Yue stormed back from 33.75 points down heading into the fifth round with 93.50 points from a reverse 3.5 somersault before counting the best dive of the men’s finals session with a back 2.5 somersault with 2.5 twists in the pike position for awe-inspiring 106.40 points.

Overall, Luxin held off Yue with 567.65 points, while Yue closed out silver with 558.20 points. Additionally, Russian Alexy Kravchenko picked up bronze with a 477.20-point tally.

The 15th-Annual FINA Diving World Cup concludes on July 23 with men’s synchronized platform and women’s synchronized three-meter action.

Women’s Three-Meter
Finals
1 Wu Minxia CHN 373.40 Q
2 Yuliya Pakhalina RUS 372.85 0.55 Q
3 Guo Jingjing CHN 368.40 5.00 Q
4 Blythe Hartley CAN 342.75 30.65 Q
5 Ryoko Nishii JPN 308.15 65.25 Q
6 Ditte Kotzian GER 301.70 71.70 Q

Prelims
1 Guo Jingjing CHN 357.90 Q
2 Yuliya Pakhalina RUS 342.90 15.00 Q
3 Wu Minxia CHN 334.55 23.35 Q
4 Ditte Kotzian GER 313.10 44.80 Q
5 Kelci Bryant USA 301.75 56.15 Q
6 Blythe Hartley CAN 299.85 58.05 Q
7 Sharleen Stratton AUS 298.20 59.70 Q
8 Cassidy Krug USA 294.20 63.70 Q
9 A.Pozdnyakova RUS 289.05 68.85 Q
10 Tandi Gerrard GBR 270.00 87.90 Q
11 Ryoko Nishii JPN 267.25 90.65 Q
12 Emilie Heymans CAN 265.20 92.70 Q
13 Misako Yamashita JPN 264.00 93.90
14 Juliana Veloso BRA 262.05 95.85
15 Katja Dieckow GER 256.60 101.30
16 Rebecca Gallantree GBR 253.90 104.00
17 Elizabeth Jimie MAS 251.40 106.50
18 Sheila Mae Perez PHI 246.60 111.30
19 S.Tommaoros THA 244.50 113.40
20 Milena Sae BRA 239.55 118.35
21 En-Tien Lu TPE 229.25 128.65
22 V.Kratochwil AUT 217.85 140.05
23 Kolic Natasa CRO 190.25 167.65
24 Ceseil Domenios PHI 187.50 170.40
25 Hsin Lu TPE 186.25 171.65
26 Marija Ivezic SCG 185.30 172.60
27 Salma Abo El Gheit EGY 169.50 188.40

Men’s Platform
Finals
1 Zhou Luxin CHN 567.65 Q
2 Lin Yue CHN 558.20 9.45 Q
3 Alexy Kravchenko RUS 477.20 90.45 Q
4 Jong Nam Ri PRK 461.45 106.20 Q
5 Matthew Mitcham AUS 457.50 110.15 Q
6 Gareth Jones GBR 410.95 156.70 Q

Semifinals A
1 Alexy Kravchenko RUS 461.90 Q
2 Gareth Jones GBR 429.15 32.75 Q
3 Jong Nam Ri PRK 416.85 45.05 Q
4 David Boudia USA 388.40 73.50
5 W.Gorup-Paul CAN 364.90 97.00
6 Sergiy Komarov UKR 347.75 114.15

Semifinals B
1 Zhou Luxin CHN 528.10 Q
2 Lin Yue CHN 518.05 10.05 Q
3 Matthew Mitcham AUS 449.20 78.90 Q
4 Sascha Klein GER 442.80 85.30
5 Thomas Finchum USA 408.65 119.45
6 Chon Man Kim PRK 380.90 147.20

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