BUDAPEST (Hungary) – The reign continues.

China claimed its 10th gold medal in the men’s 3-meter synchro event on Sunday to open the diving competition in Budapest.  Its lock on gold has only been broken twice in the 24-year history of the event at the FINA World Championships. But not today.

From start to finish, 18th FINA World Champion Cao Yuan and his new partner, 2020 Olympic gold medalist Wang Zongyuan, led the 12-team final and created a gaping 25.5-point lead over Great Britain after four (of six) dives. But Great Britain’s Anthony Harding and Jack Laugher saved their hardest two dives for last. Since scores are multiplied by the degree of difficulty, the Brits had the potential to cause a jarring and historic upset if they nailed their penultimate dive (a forward 4½) and their finale (forward triple twisting 2½) and the decorated Chinese duo (paired in December 2021) were the least bit out of synch.

The strategy nearly paid off.

Harding and Laugher scored 188.13 on their last two dives, compared to China’s 170.10 (which included an uncharacteristic 79.8 on a standard forward 4½) but it wasn’t enough to suture the gash.  

In the end, China (459.18), Great Britain (451.71), and Germany’s Timo Barthel and Lars Rudiger (406.44) went 1-2-3 in the lone final on the first day of diving.

Afterwards, Cao admitted that building such giant lead might have been his team’s undoing today. Through an interpreter, Cao said he lost a bit of focus on the final dive. Had he felt more pressure, he said, he might have been more focused. “It’s a pity about the last dive. We will be better in the future,” Cao added.

Even though it was uncharacteristic for China to botch a round, silver medalist Laugher said he didn’t have to watch China’s last dive to know the outcome. “I’ve been around the block a long time,” he said. “I know how good they are. It spurs me on and helps me get into my zone. I watched a little bit.”

Overall, Laugher was pleased with his second consecutive silver in 3-meter synchro. “It was fantastic!” he said. “We were consistent throughout all the rounds. This has been Ant’s (Anthony) first competition…but everything was right and we had a solid performance!”

Similarly, Germany was elated to capture the bronze. “It’s a dream come true,” said Lars Rüdiger after competing with Barthel for the first time.  As a new pair, Rudiger said, “Our goal was to be in the top six. We were concentrating on synchronization.”

In the end, Rudiger said, “I think the key was mental. This time I didn’t have the best condition. I just focused 100 percent on the last dive and it went good.”

Barthel had his own explanation for the bronze-medal performance.  “My key is him,” he said, pointing to Rudiger. “To jump next to him, he is a good motivator for me.”

Switzerland finished fourth, followed by France, Italy and Colombia.

On Monday the male springboard specialists return for the 3-meter individual preliminaries and semifinals, followed by the women’s 10-meter final.