World Aquatics Championships 2023: Lian/Yang defends men's 10m synchronised platform title
Chinese divers continue to rule in Fukuoka as along with Chen Yiwen/Chang Yani, the nation sweep the four synchro events and Paris 2024 qualifying spots
Diving
Another day of diving, another day of Chinese dominance.
Lian Junjie and Yang Hao repeated as champions in the men’s 10m synchronised platform at the World Aquatics Championships 2023 on Monday (17 July), grabbing yet another place at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games for the People’s Republic of China.
The diving behemoths also secured a quota in the women’s 3m synchronised springboard as Chen Yiwen/Chang Yani coasted to victory, putting a gap of 45 points on runners-up Scarlett Mew Jensen and Yasmin Harper who delivered Great Britain their first-ever medal in the event.
The National Olympic Committees of the top three duos secured a quota for the Games in a year's time.
Lian and Yang totaled 477.75, more than 38 points ahead of Oleksii Sereda and Kirill Boliukh - at 17 and 16 years of age respectively - who handed Ukraine its first medal of these championships.
Mexico’s Kevin Berlin Reyes/Randal Willars Valdez captured the remaining spot on the podium (434.16).
Chen Yiwen and Chang Yani
Both Lian and Yang were pleased with China’s seventh gold medal of the meet but already had eyes on the singles in the second half of the diving competition.
“I’m very happy but I still have individual events in the coming days,” Lian said. “I need to keep calm and keep a clear mind.”
Added Yang, “I’m thrilled but I need to get some rest, have a nice meal and also prepare for the individual events.”
Yang, though, rang the alarm bells on the Ukrainian silver medallists who he believes could pose a threat to the Chinese guard.
“I am happy to win a gold medal, which gives me confidence to go forward to the Paris Olympics,” Yang said.
“I was not surprised to find that the Ukraine team got the silver medal, because I have seen them be very competitive at previous competitions. When we face them as a competitor, we should have a sense of crisis.
“The goal of the China team is to win all the gold medals at the Paris Olympics.”
China had little trouble securing Olympic allocations in the four synchro events.
Along with Lian/Yang and Chen/Chang, Chen Yuxi/Quan Hongchan and Wang Zongyuan/Long Daoyi helped their country to the women’s 10m platform and men’s 3m springboard, respectively.