Diving: Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen storm to women’s synchronised 3m springboard gold at Paris 2024
Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen lived up to the diving hype in the women’s synchronised 3m springboard final to emphatically deliver the People’s Republic of China a second gold at Paris 2024.
The Chinese duo, who have won the last three 3m synchro world titles together, posted a score of 337.68 to beat USA's Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook (314.64) - dubbed "Cook'N'Bacon" - who took home silver ahead of Great Britain's Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen (302.28) in bronze.
The British pairing snatched bronze in dramatic circumstances, with Australia’s Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith faltering on their final dive to drop from third to fifth overall.
How Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen won Olympic diving gold at Paris 2014
There was a buzz inside the Aquatics Centre as the second medal event at Paris 2024 got underway, with the women’s 3m synchro the first of eight golds on offer in the diving.
And after spectators cheered and chanted to greet the start of this eight-pairing final, you could soon hear a pin drop when Chang and Chen first took to the boards and laid down an early marker with a 52.80.
And from there, the dynamic duo could not be caught, although a fascinating race for the remaining podium places unfolded across the five rounds.
Bacon and Cook climbed up the rankings and held onto silver from the second round onwards, while a remarkable comeback saw Britons Harper and Mew Jensen recover from sixth after round three to finish third.
They only did so after Smith struggled with Australia’s last dive - the 48.60 around 10 points shy of what was required for bronze - and it led to an emotional response from the 31-year-old, who had won bronze with Keeney at Rio 2016.
On making the error on the final dive, Smith said: “We’re disappointed, obviously. I made a pretty big mistake, when we were in a good position to medal, but that’s diving. Sometimes you can’t control that, it’s just unlucky.
“We’ve been doing synchro together for 10 years now, and been through lots of highs and lots of lows together. But it’s just sport and we are here for each other. We will continue to be. We’re going to reset and go again, we don’t stop.”
Partner Keeney added: “That’s what makes diving so thrilling – literally anything can happen until the last dive. For us it wasn’t it, but we’re still ticking along.”
“She said ‘sorry’ and I said ‘don’t worry about it’. Sometimes you don’t know what to say. Time heals all wounds. This will not go down as one of the positive memories, but it will go down as a memory.
“We are at the Olympics, it’s been an amazing week so far, and the competition has just started, so I’m sure we’re going to have some success coming up.”
Overall, though, this morning’s action – which followed a shooting gold for China, the first medal event of Paris 2024 – was all about the dominance of Chang and Chen, who will lock horns in the individual 3m springboard, which starts on 7 August.
Diving: women’s synchronised 3m springboard diving podium
Gold: Chang Yani, Chen Yiwen, People’s Republic of China
Silver: Sarah Bacon, Kassidy Cook, United States of America
Bronze: Yasmin Harper, Scarlett Mew Jensen, Great Britain