Three-time world champion Chen Yuxi prevailed over Olympic champion Quan Hongchan in their World Cup rubber match in the women’s 3m Super Final on Saturday. Also in Berlin, two-time world champ Wang Zongyuan won the men’s 10m event by more than 76 points. China has swept six events with three to go.
One of the world’s most compelling sports rivalries today is the women’s 3m super-battle between 17-year-old triple world champion Chen Yuxi (who won her first world title at age 13) and her teammate, 16-year-old Quan Hongchan who beat Chen to seize Olympic diving gold at 14.
So, as expected, Saturday’s World Cup Super Final in Berlin was a showdown for the ages. In April, Chen had won the World Cup in Xi’an, China. In May, Quan won the World Cup in Montreal, Canada. In July, Chen won her third world championship title. And on this August weekend in Berlin, Chen prevailed again, but the difference came down to a single dive, in round four, where they both did a back 3½ (with 3.3 DD). In that dive, Quan lost 30 points to her teammate, in a contest where 12.20 points separated gold and silver. Andrea Andrea Spendolini Sirieix, 18, of Great Britain earned her third consecutive World Cup bronze.
Earlier, in the men’s 3m Super Final, Wang Zongyuan had no countrymen pushing him toward the top of the podium, but the two-time world champion still outscored the field on each dive (both independently and cumulatively) to clear 500 points for the win. Moritz Wesemann took silver for the host nation, Germany. Andrew Capobianco of the US made the comeback of the day for bronze.
Keep reading for more details and the athletes’ perspective.
Women’s 10m
The women’s 10m Super Final was a back-and-forth battle. In the first two rounds, Chen and Quan executed the same dives. Chen opened with the higher score (including a 10) on her forward 3½, but Quan outscored her in round two (with two 10s) on her inward 3½. Quan held the lead in round three on a harder (3.3 DD) armstand back double with 1½ twists, extending her advantage to 12.40 points. Round four, however, was pivotal. On another identical dive, Quan got her worst and most uncharacteristic score, 69.30, while Chen scored 89.10 points and took the lead by 7.40 points. The whole time, Spendolini Sirieix was commanding third place.
For the two Chinese superpowers, the final dive was, again, identical: a back 2½ with 1½ twists. After the two highest and two lowest scores from the seven judges were discarded, Chen scored all 9.5s for the victory while Quan scored all 9.0s for silver. Spendolini finished with the same dive and her lowest score of the contest but, by then, had already built an ample lead for the bronze.
Canada’s 2023 world championship bronze medalist Caeli McKay, 24, placed fourth, 6.8 points off the podium.
When asked about pressure, Chen, 17, said she was used to it. “We know how to treat this because every games, it’s there.” She planned to continue training for this October’s Asian Games and perhaps allow for one celebratory move. “Maybe I will buy chocolate,” she said in English. “I like chocolate! – and mung cake,” she added.
Her teammate, Quan, 16, was gracious in defeat, but unsatisfied – “even in the second round,” she said, referring to her best single-dive score which included two 10s. “If you remember in the Olympics, I got all 10s” on it.
For Spendolini Sirieix, bronze marked the end of a long season during which she also had to study for her A-Level exams. “I’m struggling physically,” said the 2022 junior world champion on 10m. “My triceps aren’t holding up. I’m exhausted. In Fukuoka, I was so tired [due to exams] and my focus wasn’t on diving. But here, I had a week or two where I could focus on diving. Overall, I’ve just been exhausted day in and day out.”
After Berlin, Spendolini Sirieix said, “I’m going on holiday. I think I deserve it! I’m going to go see my family as well.” But first, she said, “I’m going to sleep tomorrow…just sleep, sleep, sleep.”
Men’s 3m Springboard
On the men’s 3m springboard, two-time world champion and 2020 Olympic silver medalist Wang Zongyuan of China, won the Super Final with power and consistency. His lead was so great by round five that he would have placed second even without his final dive, a forward 4½ with 3.8 DD (which earned 100.70 points), even though it was not his most difficult. In the end, Wang scored 540.60 points to capture the $25,000 first-place prize.
“In total, it’s a very normal performance,” Wang, 21, said, adding that his last dive is his favorite. “I am stable on this dive. [I] put the stable in the end so the end looks nice.”
Moritz Wesemann, 21, claimed silver for the host nation, 76.45 points behind Wang. It was a step up for the young German who ranked third after the morning’s preliminary round.
“I may be more grateful [for today’s silver] than even winning European [Games],” he said, referring to his 3m victory in Poland in June. “It was exhausting! Two weeks ago we went from Japan [for the world championships] back home. Overall, this season has been a breakthrough for Wesemann. Asked why, he said, “I started reflecting on myself. ‘What is helping me? What can I change in my training? What can I change in general, like nutrition, supplements, strength training?’ I just took a few pieces, tried some new stuff, and it worked out.”
The surprise of the day came from American redhead Andrew Capobianco, 23, who took bronze after a rough start that put him in 10th place (of the 12 finalists). Capobianco was still languishing in eighth place before his final two dives. His last one, a beautiful forward 4½, scored 91.20 points and allowed him to surpass 35-year-old Li Shixin of Australia and bump the former 1m world champion off the podium by 6.15 points. Li finished fourth.
“This is my first individual medal at a world-stage event,” Capobianco said. “It’s a six-dive contest so I know the first dive doesn’t determine where I’ll end up. [I kept] my head and stay[ed] confident in my abilities. None of my dives were to the level that I wanted them to be. They weren’t as sharp as I would have liked, but I’m on the right track going into next year.”
Looking Ahead
To mark the end of the 2023 World Aquatics diving season, Sunday’s action in Berlin will include three Super Finals: women’s 3m, men’s 10m, and the team event. All eyes will be on the new Australian world champion Cassiel Rousseau in the men’s 10m event to see if he can replicate Fukuoka success and outscore the Chinese divers once again.