Led by Olympic champions Shi Tingmao, Chen Aisen, Cao Yuan and Re Qian, China swept four synchro events on Day 1 of the inaugural leg of the 2017 FINA/NVC diving World Series in the Beijing state-of-the-art Water Cube.

Ren Qian, women's 10m champion in Rio, teamed up with Chang Yani to claim victory in the women's 10m synchro platform with a total of 340.26 points. Olympic runner-ups Pamg Pandelela/Cheong Jun Hoong of Malaysia ranked second (316.08), while Kim Kuk Hyang/Kim Mi Rae of People's Republic of Korea third with 313.92.

“Chang and I have trained together for just two months. We still need to work on the synchronisation and improve our techniques. The Olympic title was such a boost for me," said 16-year-old Ren.”

Chen Aisen, first ever diver to wrap up both individual and synchro platform (men) events in one Olympic Games, competed with his new partner Yang Hao.

Chen/Yang met no strong challenges to win the gold in 488.85 points, beating Patrick Hausding/Sascha Klein of Germany (419.10) and Viktor Minibaev/Aleksandr Bondar of Russia (415.50).

Thomas Daley/Daniel Goodfellow of Britain followed the three pairs with 409.59.

"A new partner means a fresh start. Unlike my previous partner, Lin Yue who is experienced with an Olympic synchro title in 2008, Yang is young and inexperienced. We have to work harder and take part in more competitions," Chen said.

German veteran Klein revealed coming back to training in December.

"I trained by myself, not with Patrick because he lives in Berlin. We only train together when we have training camps before big events. I am not thinking about the next Olympic Games in 2020. I just want to focus on each year to come. I will focus on the platform, both individual and synchro events," said the 32-year-old diving ace.

For Daley, his first competition since the Rio Olympic Games was pretty good.

"We have been preparing the World Series for three weeks now. Usually we train separately. I did not train with Daniel because of his arm injury. I am happy that our performance is not too bad, but could be better next week in Guangzhou. I am happy for what I have achieved today because I have not trained for a long time."

Daley also emphasised why he really enjoys the Diving World Series. 

"The reason I like the World Series better is because I can compete with the world top-level divers. We can really learn from each other and it helps me improve," Daley said.

In the women's 3m synchro, Olympic holders Shi Tingmao and Xu Zhihuan performed smoothly to take the gold with 319.20 points. Maddison Keeney/Anabelle Smith of Australia finished second (298.68) and Kristina Ilinykh/Nadezhda Bazhina of Russia third in 294.00.

As double winner in Rio Olympic Games, Shi was not satisfied with her first synchro event with Xu Zhihuan.

"We are still lacking of synchronisation which is the most important skill for the event. We did not show our normal training form and did not have brilliant dives. But it is good that we can learn lessons from it," Shi said.

Olympic champions Jack Laugher/Chris Mears, who brought Britain first ever Olympic diving medal in Rio, finished second after their fifth dive (5156B) and took the silver medal with 427.98 in the men's 3m synchro behind the Chinese Cao Yuan/Xie Siyi (450.39). Illia Zakharov/Evgenii Kuznetsov of Russia captured the bronze at stake (419.25).

Cao, who overcame the upset from his third place in the 3m synchro in Rio with veteran Qin Kai, claimed he and his new partner are the best pair within the team.

"According to our height, weight, age, power and technical skills..., Xie and I are the best partners within our team. I believe we can improve further after we compete more together," Cao said.

Laugher admitted the Olympic title gave him more confidence and a boost for working harder.

"The Olympic title made me feel good and brought me more confidence. It is pretty cool, to take interviews, photos, and activities."

"The World Series in Beijing is my first competition since six months. I took two and a half months off, no training, no exercises, just holidays, staying at home with my family and eating. Now we are competing in a new year as a new team, we still work very hard to make sure we are still good."

A total of 68 world best divers from Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, People's Republic of Korea, Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. will compete tomorrow on Day 2 of the premium event in the Chinese capital.