China’s Chen Yuxi and her new partner, Zhang Minjie not only gave China its 14th consecutive victory in women’s 10m synchro at the world championships on Monday, but they clobbered the field by 44 points and more.
SINGAPORE – Half of each medal-winning pair in women’s 10m synchro at the 2024 Paris Olympics competed in Singapore on Monday with new partners. Even so, China was simply too good, taking gold with 349.26 points. Mexico captured its first world medal in this event: silver. And the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea claimed the bronze.
Chen Yuxi, 19, and Zhang Minjie, 20, led after all five rounds and their triumph gave China its 14th consecutive victory in this event at the world championships, which means it hadn’t lost since 1998.
Zhang said, “Our chemistry is on-and-off. But today, our chemistry and coordination. We adjusted and aligned well to each other along the way.”
For Chen, Monday’s win was a personal four-peat – and her first synchro world title without Quan Hongchan. (Quan isn’t competing this week in Singapore.)
“This started at the 2022 World Championships, and I’ve changed a lot since then,” Chen said of her streak. “During the 2022 World Championships in Budapest, I experienced some injuries and I just kept pushing myself on to finish the competition. Now, as a veteran on the women’s platform, especially with such a tight competition schedule, learning how to manage my physical condition is still a process of continuous growth and improvement for me.”
Mexico’s Gabriella Agundez Garcia, 24, and Alejandra Estudillo Torres, 20, were solid and consistent and held on for silver with 304.80 points.
Estudillo Torres was also part of the squad that took silver in the Mixed Team event so Monday marked her second silver in Singapore.
“It’s incredible,” she said. “I’m living a dream and I’m so excited for the next event.”
Agundez Garcia added, “This is the first year we’re competing together and I feel really happy. I’m grateful to share this with Alejandra.”
Jo Jin-Mi, 20, and Kim Mi-Hwa, 23, of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea challenged China for a while, but were plagued in the fourth round by an over-rotated inward 3½. They finished strong to take the bronze, although Jo had been a silver medalist in Doha 2024 and the 2024 Paris Games with a different partner, Kim Mi-Rae.
“Unfortunately, we made some mistakes,” Kim said. “I want to do better next time and work harder for better results. We came aiming for a bigger goal, but the results left us with some disappointment.”
Jo added, “I still feel like our skills are lacking. We need to train more and work towards getting first place in the future.”
Australia placed fourth, less than 10 points away from the podium. Great Britain (which included Lois Toulson, a bronze medalist last year in Paris and Doha) placed fifth, followed by the US, Neutral B, and Canada.
Up Next:
On Tuesday, in women’s 3m synchro – Chen Yiwen of China will vie for her fifth world title (and fourth in a row, but this time, she won’t be diving with Chang Yani because Chang isn’t in Singapore).
And in the men’s 10m synchro final, Cheng Zilong and Zhu Zifeng will try to keep China’s winning streak alive. If they succeed, it would make seven golds in a row for China, dating back to 2015.