European divers got among the medals during the weekend’s World Aquatics Diving World Cup Super Final in Beijing as home athletes earned an expected clean sweep of nine titles.
In the men’s 10m synchro Ukraine’s 20-year-old individual world silver medallist Oleksii Sereda and 16-year-old Mark Hrytsenko earned silver behind China’s Yang Zihao and Zhao Renjie, respectively 16 and 15.
After earning one of the four places in the final, where all previous scores were cleared, the Ukrainians moved ahead of Mexico’s Kevin Berlin Reyes and Randal Willars Valdez with their final effort, finishing 1.26 points ahead on 404.28.
The Chinese pairing took gold with a total of 448.68.
“We did a lot of training, a lot of hard work,” Sereda told World Aquatics. “And this helped us to get this medal. We’re happy to represent our country and show a good result today.”
Great Britain finished the event at Beijing’s Water Cube venue with bronze medals in the men’s and women’s 3m synchro competitions.
Paris 2024 bronze medallists Jack Laugher and Anthony Harding finished third on 406.20 behind Mexico’s Juan Manuel Celaya Hernandez and Osmar Olvera Ibarra on 420.57, with gold going to home pairing Zhongyuan Wang and Jiuyuan Zheng on 460.68.
With the target of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics in mind, Harding said, “We just need to stay fit and healthy. We don’t dwell on the past, we keep looking forward, and we stay ready.”
Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen, who also won 3m synchro bronze for Britain at the last Olympics, claimed third place on a total of 294.60, with silver going to Australia’s Madison Keeney and Alysha Koloi on 299.94 and gold being won by home pair Jia Chen and Yiwen Chen on 331.05.
Mew Jensen credited her relationship with Harper as being key to their bronze. “Our relationship is really strong,” Mew Jensen said. “We took some time…individually and worked on ourselves, and we found that made us stronger when we came back together and it’s shown.”
The pair will now prepare for the British Championships with hope of qualifying for this summer’s European Aquatics Championships in Paris.
Germany’s world silver medallist Pauline Pfeif claimed third place in the women’s 10m platform on 317.00 behind 21-year-old Anna Konanykhina on 319.20 and China’s 15-year-old Jiang Linjing, who finished 78.75 points clear on 397.95.
France’s Jules Bouyer missed earning what would have been his first World Cup medal by one position as he was last in his four-man final of the men’s 3m springboard.
He was bumped out of third place by the final dive from Mexico’s Osman Olvera Ibarra, with gold and silver going respectively to China’s Wang Zongyuan and Zheng Jiuyuan.
Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics
