Chinese pair nails world gold in 3-meter synchro

BARCELONA, Spain: China’s Wu Minxia and Shi Tingmao won the first diving gold medal at the world championships on Saturday, earning Wu a record sixth world title in the women’s 3-meter synchronized springboard.
The pair’s almost flawless execution of all five dives, framed by the dramatic backdrop of Barcelona’s skyline, gave them the top total score of 338.40 points.
Italy’s Tania Cagnotto and Francesca Dallape claimed silver with 307.80, while Canada’s Jennifer Abel and Pamela Ware took bronze with 292.08.
The 27-year-old Wu has dominated this event for more than a decade. She has won nine world or Olympic gold medals in the 3-meter synchronized springboard. The only major title to escape her was the 2005 world championship when she didn’t compete in the event.
This was Wu’s first major competition with the 22-year-old Shi, who won gold in the 1-meter springboard at the 2011 worlds.
Wu said the secret to her success was combining her experience with younger talent.
“I always need a new partner to come up because I am old,” Wu told The Associated Press through a translator. “My partners need to have a high level before starting with me.”
Cagnotto and Dallape, who just missed the podium in London last summer by finishing fourth, got a slim early lead on the Chinese in the first round when they both performed a forward pike.
But Wu and Shi went ahead with the next dive and effectively decided the title with an inward two-and-a-half somersault pike on their third effort. They poured it on by getting a finals-best 78.30 points with a reverse pike with two-and-a-half somersaults with a twist thrown in on their fourth try.
Earlier, China’s Li Shixin topped the preliminaries in the men’s 1-meter springboard.
Li, the defending 1-meter springboard champion, led the men’s qualification for Monday’s final with 405 points, but a poor last dive let France’s Matthieu Rosset finish only 0.5 points behind.
Li looked ready to end the preliminaries with a commanding points difference until he missed with a three-and-a-half somersault pike on the sixth and final dive and barely edged Rosset for the top spot.
Illya Kvasha of Ukraine was third in qualifying, followed by Alejandro Chavez of Mexico in fourth and Sebastian Morales of Colombia in fifth.
American Kristian Ipsen, a bronze medalist from the 2012 Olympics, failed to make the cut of the top 12 divers.