China collected its second world championship gold in three events so far in Singapore, when Zhu Yongxin, 21, and Xie Peiling, 15, rallied from last place to first in the mixed 10m synchro event. Neutral B led for three rounds (of five) before dropping into third place for the bronze. In between, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea took silver.
SINGAPORE – China was trying to remain undefeated in mixed 10m synchro event and vie for a seven-peat. At the beginning, it looked dismal. Zhu Yongxin, 21, and Xie Peiling, 15, botched their first-round dive, a simple back pike dive with 2.0 degree of difficulty. They earned 36.60 and immediately had to make up at least 14.40 points just to catch the leaders.
No problem.
In round two, they improved three places. In rounds three and four, their dives out-pointed the field. All they had to do in the final round was land a serviceable back 2½ with 1½ twist.
In the end, it wasn’t textbook, but it scored high enough to beat runners-up from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea by a whisper (0.06 points).
“I’m relieved we still got the result,” Xie said. “It was a bit of a blow to make a mistake. You’ll start to feel some fear. The more you think about what’s going on, the more uptight you feel. If similar circumstances come up in future events, I now know better how to handle it.”
“I didn’t think about how hard this competition was going to be,” Zhu added. “At previous world championships, this event has never really been too big of an issue. This wasn’t an easy gold to win. We got this by the skin of our teeth, but at least we got it.
“We’ve only been working together for a little more than a month, maybe almost two months. Coach gave us some tips on how to work well with each other, find a rhythm.
“Going from a spectator in the stands to competing myself, I told myself that this is a rare chance that was given to me. I must make the most of this opportunity. This has been a target for me, a dream, so I’ll keep doing what I can to improve. There’ still a lot that can be done.”
Jo Jin-Mi, 20, thus picked up her second mixed 10m synchro silver in a row, this time with 17-year-old Choe Wi-Hyon to score 322.98 points.
“We did our best,” Choe said.
The team’s head coach, Kim Chun Ok added about Jo, “Jin Mi is fully ready [to work with] any partners. She can do her best if her partner is ready.”
Neutral B divers Anna Konanykhina, 20, and Aleksandr Bondar, 31, placed third, 11.16 points away from gold. Fun fact: Bondar won his first world championship medal in 2011 in Shanghai, before the mixed 10m synchro event even existed on the program.
“Throughout each round, I was thinking about nothing,” Bondar said. “I was just thinking about how to perform and show my best dive, that’s all.”
His partner, Konanykhina, was more effusive.
“This is my first medal at the world championships and I’m so happy I can’t believe it,” she said. “I was a little nervous on the first round. I used breathing (techniques) and this helped me. We had a tough journey getting here to get this medal, and the way was very long, but we’re just at the beginning.”
The 2024 bronze medalists, Kevin Berlin Reyes, 24, and Alejandra Estudillo Torres, 20, hovered between third and sixth place all day and had a chance to overtake the top three with the hardest dive of the contest in the final round: a back 2½ with 2½ twists pike (with a 3.6 degree of difficulty). But their execution scores left them in fourth place, 7.32 points away from the bronze.
Up Next:
Later on Sunday, Osmar Olvera Ibarra of Mexico will attempt to defend his 2024 world title in men’s 1m springboard, starting at 17:30 Singapore time.