China win three golds in the pool at world championships
Sports
Twins Wang Liuyi and Qianyi reclaimed the women's technical duet world title
Doha (AFP) – China cleaned up all three gold medals on offer at the World Aquatic Championships in Doha on Monday, with Quan Hongchan's victory in the women's 10-metre platform adding to the two they won in artistic swimming.
Twins Wang Liuyi and Qianyi reclaimed the women's technical duet world title while Yang Shuncheng took gold in the men's solo technical. Quan collected a final score of 436.25 points after her five jumps to take the gold, ahead of her compatriot Chen Yuxi with 427.80pts.
The two divers, aged 16 and 18 respectively, took the top two places on the podium last year, albeit the other way around. They will be the favourites for the 10m synchronised event, in which they will compete together on Tuesday, and in which they are the defending champions.
Britain's Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix completed the podium with a score of 377.10 points, nearly 60 points off second place. Wang Liuyi and Qianyi, 27, first took the technical duet crown in Budapest in 2022 but just missed the podium in the discipline last year in Fukuoka, Japan.
They scored 266.0484 points, well clear of Britons Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe who took silver with 259.5601. Spaniards Alisa Ozhogina and Iris Tio Casas repeated last year's bronze with 258.0333.
Japan's Moe Higa and Mashiro Yasunaga, who were crowned champions in 2023, withdrew just before qualifying started, one of the two swimmers being unwell. Yang, 16, scored 246.4766pts in the men's solo, just edging Italian Giorgio Minisini.
Colombian Gustavo Sanchez, who finished fourth in Fukuoka last year, made it on to the podium this time around.
