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ROME, Italy, July 23. THE men's three-meter springboard finale, as well as the women's three-meter synchronized prelims, took place during diving today at the FINA World Championships.
China's He Chong won the gold medal in the men's three-meter event with a consistent set of six dives that tallied 505.20 points. After dropping to third during the second round with a 76.50-point dive, He responded with a 91 on his third dive and never looked back.
Troy Dumais of the U.S. claimed silver with 498.40 points and had his chances for gold. He stood in first after a second-round 91.80, but his third round dive of 67.50 took him out of the running for gold. He worked his way from third in that round to second by the end of the list, including a fourth-round tally of 94.50 points.
Canada's Alexandre Despatie collected bronze with 490.30 points. If not for the first-round 72, which put him in seventh overall to start, Despatie also may have had a shot at gold. He averaged 80s the rest of the way.
China's Zhang Xinhua (487.75), Brazil's Cesar Castro (466.90) and Mexico's Yahel Castillo (459.90) were among the top six. Chris Colwill of the U.S. (451.70) and Matthew Mitcham of Australia (431.30) finished eighth and ninth.
China's Guo Jingjing and Wu Minxia easily led the way in the women's three-meter synchro preliminary round. The duo tallied 342.90 points to finish nearly 30 points ahead of the second seed.
Italy's Tania Cagnotto and Francesca Dallape qualified second with 316.20 points, while Russia's Julia Pakhalina and Anastasia Pozdniakova placed third with 305.49 points. The U.S. pairing of Kelci Bryant and Ariel Rittenhouse qualified seventh with 293.40 points.