In the showdown between Chinese divers, Olympic champion Shi Tingmao and world champion Xie Siyi claimed victories on the 3m springboard as China added three more gold medals on offer during the second day of the 2018 FINA/CNSG Diving World Series in Beijing (CHN).  

As the Olympic champion and world champion on women's 3m springboard, Shi ruled the event by clinching 392.10 points for the title despite a mistake from her fourth dive, a 107B (65.10). Shi managed a perfect last dive (5152B), beating teammate Wang Han in 380.40 and Jennifer Abel of Canada in 354.30.
 

"I should say that the 107B was once more my weakest dive. But today's performance just showed that I was lacking training this winter since I got injured on my waist and had a bad cold. I did not train as normal. However, it was important that I tried hard to keep cool and fought back with my last strong dive. We could meet different situations during the competition, the only thing I could do is to concentrate on my dive. I can always learn lessons from mistakes," Shi said.    

 
Rio Olympic champion Cao Yuan and reigning world champion Xie Siyi had a battle on the men's 3m springboard final as Xie scored a day-high 106.40 in his last dive (109C) for the title in 550.50. Cao who led the first four rounds before not succeeding in the entry for his 5156B, had to concede to a silver medal in 513.15, while Ilia Zakharov of Russia was third in 509.00.

"I felt a little bit tired today, but I was quite satisfied with my smooth dives," Xie said.

For Cao, synchro platform Olympic champion in 2012 and springboard champion at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, there are still problems related to the transfer from one event to the other. 

"It was strange that sometimes I dealt with the springboard dives with the thoughts on the platform. This eventually brought some mistakes during the competition," Cao said.     


Grace Reid/Tom Daley (GBR)

In the mixed 3m springboard synchro, world champions Wang Han/Li Zheng dominated the field from the start to the end, winning in 331.50, ahead of Grace Reid/Thomas Daley of Great Britain (308.67) and Jennifer Abel/Francois Imbeau-Dulac of Canada (302.67).
   

"Today was a very consistent day for myself and Grace. We always enjoy the mixed synchro because it is very different for both of us. I usually dive from the 10m platform, so I have to ‘come down’ to the 3m springboard. It is a different, excited feeling. Grace just moved to London, so we could train more often together for the synchro. We did it twice a week," Daley said.

 
Talking ahead of the men's 10m platform competition this Sunday, Daley said: "I still need a few weeks to reach my best form. I will do my best."       

The three-day Diving World Series will come to an end on March 11, after three platform events.