Among all the big names competing in the men's 3m springboard, it was the reigning World champion Xie Siyi of China of stood out at last at the FINA Diving World Cup 2018 in Wuahn on Thursday June 7.

Xie beat Rio Olympic champion Cao Yuan and silver medallist Jack Laugher of Great Britain.

Xie, who led from the start until the end, scored four 90+ dives and collected 557.60 for his first World Cup title, while Cao also showed good quality dives and sealed the silver medal in 544.60. Laugher, who was 7.90 behind front runner Xie after four dives, suffered a poor 109C for 72.20 and had to concede to a bronze medal (515.00).

by Xiao YIjiu (Xinhua)

"It is my first World Cup and a brand new experience for me. I am fresh and excited about it. I tried to focus on my own dives in the final and corrected all the errors I did during the semi-final and preliminary phases. My consistency was the winning factor. It was a big boost for my confidence and it will help me in future competitions," said Xie who clinched the gold medal last year at the Budapest World Championships.

Cao, synchro 10m Olympic champion in 2012 and 3m Olympic champion in 2016, said he still felt like a rookie on the springboard.

"Even though I won the springboard title at the 2016 Olympic Games, I am still inexperienced on the board. I could not control some of my previous platform technique habits during the competition. I was boiling inside and eager to show my strength. I was happy with the silver medal," Cao said.

Laugher said he had a technical problem on his fifth dive.

"Today I dove pretty well, but not amazingly either. I was a little bit off on board on 109C, but it was a small technical problem not because my nerves or something else. In diving it is very quick and easy to go wrong in some places. It was the things I need to improve on and get high scores. It was a very healthy competition and I was very happy to compete together with the best Chinese divers. I was happy with the bronze."

by Xiong Qi (Xinhua)

In the women's 10m platform synchro, the 14-year-old Chinese duo Zhang Jiaqi/Zhang Minxie met no challenges on route to claim the title in 366.12. Kim Ki Hwa/Kim Kwang Hui of PRK and Meaghan Benfeito/Caeli McKay of Canada came second and third, with 328.98 and 324.42, respectively.

"I have got high-fever and did not train for a week just before the competition. But today I was full of power and felt great to show my best," Zhang Minjie said.

It was the second title for Zhang Jiaqi after she won the individual platform on Wednesday.

"I felt a little bit tired but I was happy to win the synchro gold with my good friend Zhang. I hope I can win more gold medals in the future," said the young diver.