BUDAPEST, July 2 (ABC): Ren Qian and Duan Yu claimed the 10th gold for the Chinese diving team at the FINA World Championships here on Friday as the pair cruised to the title in the mixed 10m synchronized.
In the only diving final of the day, Ren and Duan collected a total of 341.16 points from the five dives, while Ukrainian pair Sofiia Lyskun/Oleksii Sereda held nerve in the last dive to beat American divers Delaney Schnell/Carson Tyler for the silver with 317.01. The American duo sat in the third only 1.11 points behind.
“It was my first world championships, and I felt very lucky to pair with Ren because she has a lot of experience in big tournaments so she could help me a lot, ” said the 16-year-old Duan.
It was Ren’s second world title of mixed 10m synchronized, as the 2016 Rio Olympic champion of the 10m individual event had won two golds at the 2017 aquatic worlds in Budapest, including one from the 10m mixed.
“I felt so happy to return to the stage of the world championships, hope we can team up again in the future,” said Ren, who added that she had only practiced with Duan for less than two months.
The 21-year-old had been one of the world-leading female divers on 10m platform from 2015 to 2017, but overshadowed from 2018 by some younger athletes like Quan Hongchan, Zhang Jiaqi, and Chen Yuxi, all of the three winning titles at the Tokyo Olympic Games last year.
“As an athlete, you have to face the ups and downs in your career, but I told myself never to give up. If you try, you may get nothing, but if you don’t try, you will definitely get nothing. I want to dive as long as my body allows me to do so,” Ren said.
It was only the fourth time that the mixed 10m platform synchronized event featured at the worlds and the Chinese team has swept all of the four golds.