Quan Hongchan of the People’s Republic of China defeated her teammate, three-time world champion Chen Yuxi, by 8.45 points to claim the world tile on the women’s 10m platform on Monday. Great Britain’s Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix earned the bronze.
DOHA, Qatar – It finally happened! After winning Olympic gold in Tokyo at age 14 and twice being the runner-up at the world championships, Quan Hongchan won gold in the women’s 10m platform event on Monday at Hamad Aquatic Center. To earn the title, Quan had to defeat her teammate, the three-time world champion, Chen Yuxi, 18. Both women had a pair of dives that earned more than 90 points. Both earned perfect scores (Quan five, Chen two). And both were the only divers to top 400 points: Quen with 436.25, Chen with 427.80.
Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix of Great Britain performed a clean dive list to claim bronze with 377.10 points, a full 28 points ahead of her nearest competitor.
Fourth-place Kim Mi Rae, 22, was trying to become the first diver from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to win this event since 2015.
Quan said the gold medal was gratifying.
“It is a very beautiful feeling to hold it in my hand. I also think the mascot [whale shark] is very cute. After this competition, my next target is the Olympic gold. I wish to make more progress. There are no limits. I do not put too much pressure on myself because I am still young.”
At the same time, Quan admitted, “I am not as excited as you think about winning this gold medal. Actually, I do not think I did my best today. I made a couple of mistakes in my back dives.”
One of those back dives was a back 3½ in round four that scored a massive 97.35 points and one that four of the seven judges awarded perfect 10s (only two of which counted under the diving scoring system).
“The fourth jump was great and I am happy about it but I cannot say it was a perfect one,” Quan said.
Monday’s silver medalist, Chen, said, “I’m really happy for my [10m synchro] partner for winning the gold medal. We are more like friends and less like rivals. We always try to learn from each other. We see each other as a motivation.”
Spendolini-Sirieix, who had missed the final cut at the past two world championships said, “To be able to make it in the final, then onto the medal table is just incredible. In the semifinal I was just freaking out. I was so nervous because I wanted to make it into the final.
“It is definitely a big boost,” she said of the bronze, “but I need to remember to remain humble and keep training and keep working. I need to do this continuously.”
Spendolini-Sirieix, 19, also won the mixed team gold on Day 1.
“I’m not a one-hit wonder,” she added. “I want to make sure that I’m consistent and that I’m bringing my all to every competition. This is just a reminder that it is possible.”
Also of note: the 2023 world championship bronze medalist, Caeli McKay of Canada, placed eighth.
Next:
Several finalists from Monday night will return to the Hamad Aquatics Center on Tuesday to compete in the women’s 10m synchro platform – including Chen and Quan, who will vie for their third consecutive synchro gold medal together.
To date, China has not lost women’s 10m synchro since 1998, the first year it was contested at worlds. That’s 12 titles in a row.