LAUSANNE, Switzerland, March 28. THE second stage of the FINA/Midea Diving World Series 2011 held in Beijing's iconic venue, the Water Cube, from March 25-26, welcomed 51 athletes from 12 countries. Ultimately, no other nation came close to matching China's impressive tally of 12 medals (all eight golds and four silvers, six in each field). The European countries bagged seven medals (two for Russia, Britain, Germany and one for Ukraine) while Australia, Canada and Malaysia were the remaining countries with medals in Beijing.
The Chinese squad swept gold and silver in all single events: home favourites Kai Qin and Chong He in the men's 3m springboard; local hero Bo Qiu and rising talent Yuan Cao in the men's 10m platform, powerful Minxia Wu and Zi He in the women's 3m springboard and ever-impressive Ruolin Chen and young sensation Yadan Hu in the women's 10m platform.
Among men, Qiu and Cao collected only 10s for two of their dives in the 10m platform, Qiu also totalling the highest-scoring single dive from any competitor in the entire meet, at 111.00. Britain's Peter Waterfield performed steadily to earn the bronze with a score of 546.95. Russia's Evgeny Kuznetsov showed talent in the 3m springboard and added his Beijing bronze to the silver medal earned in Moscow last week. In the synchro platform, a battle for the silver played out between the German and British pairings, with Sascha Klein/Patrick Hausding prevailing by a nail (0.03).
In the women's platform, Ruolin Chen repeated her brilliant 2008 Olympics performance. It was arguably her last dive, a clean Back 2 ½ Somersault 1 ½ Twists, Pike, that gave her marks of 9.5 or higher, which sealed her victory. The struggle was for the minor medal between Alexandra Croak (AUS) and Pamg Pandelela (MAS), with the Australian taking third by 0.45. Reigning World champion Paola Espinosa (MEX) finished last in the event. Canada's Jennifer Abel continues to look strong with a bronze and silver in the 3m springboard individual and synchro (with Emilie Heymans), respectively. Tania Cagnotto (ITA) was the fourth best in the single event.
MEDALLISTS IN BEIJING
Men's 3m springboard: 1. Kai Qin (CHN) 541.70; 2. Chong He (CHN) 536.25; 3. Evgeny Kuznetsov (RUS) 491.25
Men's 10m platform: 1. Bo Qiu (CHN) 609.20; 2. Yuan Cao (CHN) 602.75; 3. Peter Waterfield (GBR) 546.95
Men's 3m springboard synchro: 1. Kai Qin/Yutong Luo (CHN) 476.64; 2. Illya Kvasha/Oleksey Prygorov Oleksey (UKR) 444.87; 3. Stephan Feck/Patrick Hausding (GER) 435.03
Men's 10m platform synchro: 1. Yanquan Zhang/Yuan Cao (CHN) 502.65; 2. Sascha Klein/Patrick Hausding (GER) 459.90; Thomas Daley/Peter Waterfield (GBR) 459.87
Women's 3m springboard: 1. Minxia Wu (CHN) 402.30; 2. Zi He (CHN) 400.20 3. Jennifer Abel (CAN) 382.05
Women's 10m platform: 1. Ruolin Chen (CHN) 426.00; 2. Yadan Hu (CHN) 423.05; 3. Alexandra Croak (AUS) 357.50
Women's 3m springboard synchro: 1. Zi He/Minxia Wu (CHN) 341.10; 2. Jennifer Abel/Emilie Heymans (CAN) 315.00; 3. Svetlana Filippova/Nadezda Bazhina (RUS) 311.43
Women's 10m platform synchro: 1. Ruolin Chen/Hao Wang (CHN) 365.52; 2. Pamg Pandelela/ Leong Mun Yee (MAS) 338.46 3. Alexandra Croak/Melissa Wu (AUS) 331.50
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