World Aquatics Championships Doha 2024: Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen seal third-consecutive women's 3m synchronised diving world title
The Chinese pair survived an early wobble to finish with a comfortable victory, ahead of the Australia in second, and Great Britain in third.
Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen delivered a diving masterclass at the World Aquatics Championships Doha 2024 to secure their third-consecutive women's 3m synchronised world title on Wednesday (7 February).
The People's Republic of China duo were almost faultless from the off, with their opening round jump of 52.20 demonstrating perfect synchronisation to take an early lead at the Hamad Aquatics Complex.
A slight over rotation in the second round opened the door for fellow bright starters, Canada's Mia Vallee and Pamela Ware, but they were unable to capitalise with a small mistake of their own.
This allowed experienced Australian duo and Rio 2016 bronze medallists, Anabelle Smith and Maddison Keeney, to take over second place behind China with opening jumps of 49.80 and 46.80.
There was a solid display too from last year's World Championships runners-up, Scarlett Mew Jensen and Yasmin Harper of Great Britain, who sat in third at the halfway point, having equalled the highest score in the second round.
However, the Chinese team then landed a superb third jump worth 73.80 on a 3.0 degree of difficulty dive to pull away from their rivals.
Despite having built up a healthy lead, Chang and Chen refused to take their foot off the gas.
They executed equally impressive jumps of 75.33 and 74.70 for an overall total of 323.43, and to comfortably seal the gold medal.
The race for silver was won by Aussie pair Smith and Keeney who finished on 300.45, while Great Britain's Jensen and Harper clinched bronze with 281.70.
"The springboard we’re using here is definitely different from the ones we usually train on. It’s heavily used, with so many people jumping on it every day, so there are inevitably some differences each day. We need to keep a calm mindset and not get too caught up in the condition of the springboard. Instead, we should focus on our own technique and not let the springboard distract us," Chen told Olympics.com in the media zone after.
On starting first in the final, she said:
"I see it as an opportunity because there will be only eight pairs of athletes participating in the Olympics, and the starting order will also be decided by a draw. What if you have bad luck at that time and end up going first or second? So, today, it’s a chance for us to get familiar with that situation."
