Yang Hao of China won his second gold at the World Aquatics Championships Doha 2024 at the Hamad Aquatics Centre on Saturday.After winning his third consecutive synchro world title with Lian Junjie on Thursday, Yang took the individual men’s 10m platform title with a total score of 564.05 from his six dives as China claimed their ninth diving gold in the Qatari capital.It was a first global individual triumph for Yang – who won two golds at the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games – after he took world silver in 2019 and bronze the last two years.Reigning Olympic champion Cao Yuan was second on 553.20 with 18-year-old Ukrainian Oleksii Sereda earning his first major individual medal in third, totalling 528.65. Cao was playing catch-up early on after only earning 7.5s and 8.0s for his high-difficulty opening dive.With his second effort, Yao hit a handstand back triple somersault with pike to move up the leaderboard with one judge awarding him a perfect 10.In round three, Cao made a superb back three-and-a-half somersault with pike to roar into medal contention. Yang went even better with the same dive in round four, receiving two 10s and achieving a 100-point plus score to move further clear.Sereda and Mexico’s Randal Willars were the only men able to keep pace with the two Chinese in the first half of the final, but they were soon battling for bronze.Yang’s comparatively low-difficulty fifth dive left him with a lead of just 2.55 over Cao going into the final round.But he put gold beyond doubt with a stunning front four-and-a-half somersaults with tuck, earning three 10s from the judges in a dive score of 107.30 – easily the best of the final.Sereda all but secured bronze with his best dive of the competition, a back two-and-a-half somersault with two-and-a-half twists for 97.20.At 4.1, Willars’ final dive – a front four-and-a-half somersaults with pike – had the highest difficulty tariff of the final and near-perfect execution would have seen him overhaul Sereda. But the 21-year-old slightly over-rotated and had to settle for fourth place on 505.00.Chinese divers won nine of the 10 disciplines they contested in diving in Doha, finishing the event with nine golds and four silvers. Australia were next with two golds, two silvers and a bronze.Meanwhile, China finished a dominant first week at the World Aquatics Championships with more titles in artistic swimming to top the medal table with 16 golds out of 29.Cheng Wentao and Shi Haoyu retained their world title in the artistic mixed duet free event. Cheng and Shi had taken silver in the mixed duet technical event last weekend, and improved on that in Aspire Dome arena performing a routine on the theme of "Romeo and Juliet.”Their score of 224.1437 points was more than 15 points ahead of silver medallists Mireia Hernandez and Dennis Gonzalez of Spain. Bronze went to Mexico’s Trinidad Meza and Diego Villalobos."Winning the gold medal at the World Championship on the Chinese New Year is indeed a great feeling,” Cheng said.Australia took the other gold on offer on Saturday as diver Maddison Keeney paired with Domonic Bedggood to win the mixed 3-metre synchronised springboard – a rare event in which China did not compete.
February 11, 2024 | 12:31 AM