Clash of the titans

In men's events, Wang Zongyuan's surging form, underlined by his individual 3m springboard win on Monday, suggested that he will keep pushing Team China's drive to dominate the springboard together with two-time individual Olympic champion Xie Siyi, who won the synchro with Guangdong teammate Huang Bowen.

The duel between Shandong's Lian Junjie and Beijing veteran Cao Yuan on the 10m platform, where Lian won his national title by beating Cao on Tuesday, is expected to continue sharpening the pair's skills in the buildup to LA28.

"I am still a climber, in terms of achieving my career goal at the LA Olympics," said the 25-year-old Lian, who won his sole Olympic gold in men's synchro 10m platform with Yang Hao in Paris.

"China's diving team builds on its tradition that each generation passes on to the next, in order to always stay competitive and on top of the world.

"For the younger guys, I just hope they stay resilient and mentally strong to withstand the grind of hard training every day. Perseverance is the key to success."

China's world-beating diving squad swept all eight gold medals at Paris 2024, after collecting seven out of eight at Tokyo 2020.

Zhou Jihong, who came out of retirement to return as head coach of the national team in June, has sent a strong signal that the program will go all out on its journey to LA28, with its sights firmly set on another golden sweep.

Notably, it was Zhou who won the country's first-ever Olympic diving gold at Los Angeles 1984.

Contact the writers at zhengcaixiong@chinadaily.com.cn