China's diver Chen wins World Cup women's 10m with career high marks

BERLIN -- China's diving team claimed three gold medals here on Saturday at FINA Diving World Cup as two-time world champion Chen Yuxi hit her career high marks of 449.85 to win the women's 10m platform.

The women's 10m individual event has become a showdown between teen stars as 17-year-old Chen, who edged Quan Hongchan with 0.3 points at the Budapest World Championships this summer, beat the 15-year-old Olympic champion by 19.40 points in Berlin.

In the battle for gold, Quan set the tone on her opening dive that earned five 10s from the seven judges, before Chen blasted out four 10s of her own to earn 97.35 points and pull ahead of her teammate in the third round.

Quan earned her best score of the contest on her fourth dive that earned 94.05 points, but it wasn't enough to overtake her compatriot.

Entering the final dive, Chen went first and produced another 10 and four 9.5s, sealing the victory with 449.85 points. Runner-up Quan earned 430.45, 131.75 points ahead of the bronze medalist, Nike Agunbiade of the United States.

"I'm very happy with the results and I did not expect to hit the career high marks," said Chen. "It's normal for either of us to win the battle. Hope we can keep moving together."

In the men's 3m synchro final, despite the mistakes in the third dive of 5154B, China's world champions Cao Yuan and Wang Zongyuan topped the field with 442.68, 88.68 points over runners-up Tyler Downs and Greg Duncan of the United States. Australia's Li Shixin and Lachlan Cronin secured the bronze with 349.41.

China extended its winning streak in the women's 3m synchro event as well. 2022 world champions Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen delivered solid performance, scoring 330.03 from five dives to clinch the gold.

Runners-up Saskia Oettinghaus and Jana Lisa Rother from host Germany were 57.09 points behind the Chinese duo. Kristen Hayden and Brooke Schultz from the United States finished third with 257.97.

The World Cup will conclude on Sunday with three finals: the women's 3m individual, the men's 10m individual, and the mixed team event.