Seventeen-year-old Chen Yuxi prevailed over her 10m synchro partner Quan Hongchan to win China’s ninth gold medal in nine events at the World Aquatic Championships – Fukuoka on Wednesday.  The victory also made Chen a three-time world champion in the individual 10m.

At last year’s world championships, the difference between their gold and silver was a mere three-tenths of a point so this year’s outcome was far from predictable.

Once again, their dive lists were nearly identical. Once again, Chen had one slightly harder dive in her program but the difference was marginal and, in the end, difficulty wasn’t the deciding factor. Chen beat the 2020 Olympic champion by 12.25 points. Their nearest competitor, Caeli McKay of Canada, finished 117 points behind them for the bronze.

But that’s not the whole story.

Chen raced to an early lead and had the highest-scoring dives in the first three rounds. But Quan wasn’t ready to give up her chance at redemption. Quan even threw a perfect dive in round four, scoring 10s from all seven judges on a back 3½.

But by then, the older Chen had already earned ten 10s of her own, including four on the exact same dive as Quan in the fourth round so Quan could only reduce her 17.10-point deficit to 15-and-a-fraction with one round to go. Perfect or not, Quan’s fate was sealed.  

The gap was far too big when she and the world champion were both scoring more than 90 points on the majority of their dives.

“I am very happy and excited,” Chen said of her third consecutive 10m title. “When I won one gold [in 10m synchro with a different partner] and one silver medal [behind Quan] at the Tokyo Olympics, my dream was half fulfilled. Now [I have] “higher goals, bigger dreams to pursue.”

During the competition, runner-up Quan, 16, said, “I didn't pay much attention to Yuxi's performance. I was just thinking about my diving. I'm happy to receive a silver medal because I didn't perform at my best today. I don’t want to think about goals after this competition. I'll just focus on my practice and performance after this competition.”

Meanwhile, the race for the bronze was a wild affair.  The diver in third place changed every round. On the very last dive, McKay emerged from 10^th place (of 12 competitors) to claim Canada’s first diving medal of the 2023 world championships.

Even wilder, McKay had nearly missed the cut for the final. In the semifinals one day earlier, she had to dig herself out of 15^th place on her last two dives or she would have failed to make the 12-person final and, with it, lost the first chance to qualify Canada for a place in the women’s 10m event at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

After the medal ceremony, McKay, 24, said, “I am extremely emotional right now. It was a rollercoaster event, with a lot of ups and downs. I blundered on my fourth dive [but] there are five dives for a reason. The last dive for me [a back 2½ with 1½ twists] is usually consistent. I tried to keep the key points in my mind, and block out any excess noise. To pull through and actually nail that dive felt really-really good! 

“It is going to feel so amazing to show this medal to my friends and family,” McKay added. “Today’s triumph has been a long time in the making, and I think they are going to be really proud.”

Gabriela Agundez Garcia placed fourth, one day after helping Mexico earn the team silver. Lois Toulson of Great Britain finished fifth, followed by the 2019 world championship bronze medalist Delaney Schnell of the US.

Looking Ahead to Day 6

In Thursday’s lone final, China will try for a nine-peat in men’s 3m springboard. The heavy favourite is Wang Zongyuan, 21, the reigning world champion and 2020 Olympic silver medalist. His challenger will be his teammate Long Daoyi, 20, with whom he won gold on Day 1 in 3m synchro.