Yue Lin, Aisen Chen Collect Gold in Men’s 10M Synchronized Diving at 2015 FINA World Championships

Photo Courtesy: R-Sport / MIA Rossiya Segodnya

Coverage of the 2015 FINA World Championships is sponsored by Wylas Timing. Visit our coverage page for more.

After losing the title two years ago in Barcelona (ESP), China came back to the top of the podium in the men’s 10m platform synchro, winning the gold in the Kazan final with Yue Lin and Aisen Chen.

The Asians have been dominant in this event, since its inception in the programme of the FINA World Championships in 1998, having won five out of the eight gold medals at stake until the start of the Russian competition. In the outstanding Aquatics Palace of the capital of Tatarstan, Aisen Chen and Yue Lin (already gold medallist in this event in 2007 and 2009, with Liang Huo) were determined to bring back the world crown to their country, after a less successful participation in 2013, where Sascha Klein/Patrick Hausding, from Germany, were the winners.

Very concentrated and presenting quite solid combinations, the Chinese pair was always in total control of the operations, leading from the very first dive and concluding their effort with a total of 495.72 points. They were never really challenged by their main opponents, Mexicans Ivan Garcia and German Sanchez, who took the silver in a distant 448.89. The last medal for the Central American nation in this event was obtained in 2001, when Eduardo Rueda and Fernando Platas, were also second in Fukuoka, Japan.

Garcia and Sanchez, as it is traditional with Mexican divers, presented the most challenging combination of the evening, a 5156B, worth a 3.8 DD. The Chinese winners risked a bit less, but got several perfect scores of 10 from the judges and won the battle of regularity and consistence.

The bronze went to home stars Roman Izmailov and Victor Minibaev, who totalled 441.33 points. Minibaev was also on the podium in Barcelona (ESP), in 2013, getting the silver with Artem Chesakov. Hausding/Klein were this time sixth in Kazan, while Olympic champion David Boudia (USA) paired with his compatriot Steele Johnson for the fifth place.

QUOTES

Roman Izmailov (RUS): “We are quite happy with our performance today. Of course we had some mistakes and in the last round and practically ‘gave’ the silver medal to the Mexicans, but we understand that the important is to win a medal and to assure our presence in the 2016 Olympics in Rio”.

Victor Minibaev (RUS): “We had a very complicated season. In the World Series, we were fifth and sixth, so the bronze medal is a good result. Any prize would be good and we would be happy with either silver or bronze”.

Ivan Garcia (MEX): “Our objective has been achieved for this year – this medal and the qualification for the Rio Olympics. We have two dives with a higher degree of difficulty, but we didn’t present them in this competition because I had a problem in my shoulder; it will be our added-value for the Olympics”.

German Sanchez (MEX): “We are very happy with the result today. Personally, I’m satisfied to have climbed to the podium with my partner, but also with other four great friends that we made in this sport. The platform has a very high technical level and if you make any kind of small mistake there is a lot of good divers waiting for their opportunity and this is amazing because it raises the interest of our events”.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World. To reach our audience, contact us at newsmaster@swimmingworld.com.

2015 FINA World Championships, Diving: Day 3 Results – Results

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use