China’s Long Yiping became the second diver to win two gold medals at the junior world championships in Rio. On Wednesday, she dominated the 3m event for girls 16-18 years old. Earlier in the day, Italian synchro partners Simone Conte and Raffaele Pelligra won a tight contest for gold in boys’ platform, ahead of pairs from Mexico and Germany.
RIO DE JANEIRO – By the end of Day 4 at the 2024 World Aquatics Junior Diving Championships, three more divers had become multiple medalists in Rio. The first was Italy’s Simone Conte who earned gold in boys’ synchro platform (with Raffaele Pelligra) on Wednesday to add to his silver in synchro 3m. On the girls’ side, Long Yiping of China won her second springboard title in two days, this time on 3m. Long’s teammate Liu Jiadan took silver on 3m, upgrading her bronze from Tuesday’s 1m event in girls’ group A. All the day’s other medalists were first-timers.
Below is a look at how both finals unfolded on Wednesday.
Boys’ Synchro Platform
The boys’ synchro platform event was contested over five dives. Of the nine nations in the final, Mexico submitted the hardest dive list but Italy’s Raffaele Pelligra, 15, and Conte, 17, held a lead over the final three dives to take gold with 301.71 points.
The Mexican duo, Emilio Trevino Laureano and Alejandro Flores, vaulted from fifth place to second on their final dive, the hardest one of the contest: a reverse 3½ with a 3.4 degree of difficulty. It added 75.48 points to their silver-medal total of 295.32 and put Mexico 1.32 points ahead of Germany’s Iven Prenzyna and Ole Johannes Rosler who claimed the bronze. Ukraine’s Danylo Avanesov and Marko Barsukov were just 1.44 points off the podium, in fourth.
After winning his second medal in Rio, Conte said the Italians’ last dive, an inward 3½, was their favourite. “I don’t know why,” he said. “It’s easy for us.”
Silver medalist Emilio Trevino Laureano, 17, of Mexico said he knew he and his partner needed a big score on their last dive to win a medal.
To cope with the pressure before that dive, Flores, his synchro partner since 2022, said, “I thought of the whole process before this competition and all the sacrifices I made to be here. Then I just enjoyed the last dive, whether we won or not.”
“We’re so happy that we nailed it,” Trevino Laureano said. Their silver marked Mexico’s fifth podium in eight events in Rio.
“We’re so happy that we nailed it.”
“We are so happy to contribute another medal,” he added.
As for the German bronze medalists who train in Rostock and have been synchro partners for 1½ years, they, too, had to cope with nerves. Prenzyna, 15, admitted “I was a little bit shaking at the end but I calmed down and I managed to focus. I just concentrated on the dive, nothing else.”
Meanwhile, Rosler, 17, said he was listening to American and German rap music before their last dive, then put it away to concentrate on the 407C, the same dive the Italians did in the last round. Asked where he would put the bronze, Rosler said, “I don’t know. I will just be happy for one month.”
In contrast, Prenzyna said, “I think I will be happy for my whole life because it’s my first junior worlds and it’s a medal. It’s very nice.”
Girls’ Group A – 3m Springboard
The highest total of nine dives determined the winner of the girls 3m event for ages 16-18. Scores from the first five dives of prelims were carried over and added to the scores of four dives in the final for the dozen women who made the cut.
Put simply, Long Yiping of China dominated. She was already ranked first when the final began, having amassed 213.60 points for the preliminary dives that counted.
Then, round by round in the final, Long watched her lead grow from 7.15 points to 8.95 to 42.50 to a huge 53.70 points with one dive to go. By then, no one questioned who would win; Long had 401.90 points. The question became whether Long would even need her final dive to claim the gold. Ultimately, her teammate Liu Jiadan proved that, yes, Long did need the 63.00 points she earned for her forward 2½ with a twist to capture her second gold medal in Rio. Liu finished second, with 406.70 points despite major flaws on her forward 3½ in the second round of the final. The surprise bronze medalist was Tereza Jelinkova of Czechia, who scored 397.90.
Afterwards, Long said she had no idea she had earned such a big lead. “I didn’t know the scores,” she said. Compared to her gold medal from the 1m event one day earlier, Long said that Wednesday’s 3m victory was more difficult “because the dives are more difficult.” Long, 18, has no events remaining so the record book has closed on her junior world championship career.
Silver medalist Liu said, similarly, that the 3m silver on Wednesday meant more to her than the 1m bronze she had earned 24 hours earlier. The reason, Liu said, is that “the 3-meter event is my major event. I spent more time on this event.” As for her second-round dive that went awry, Liu explained, “When I walked forward, I didn’t take enough steps to the end of the board, so I didn’t get enough height and I didn’t get enough speed.”
Meanwhile, the Czech bronze medalist, Jelinkova, was thrilled with third place. She had competed in the B group at the 2022 junior world championships in Montreal, but this was her first junior world medal. “To be honest, I expected I would be top-20 because in 1-meter I was top-20 – and now I’m top-3!” she said. “I will celebrate the medal with my family and of course with my coach. My family’s in Prague. They’re so proud of me! I will call them tonight!”
Next: The junior diving world championships continues on Thursday with two more finals: in girls’ synchro 3m and in boys’ 1m springboard for ages 16-18.