Li retains world 1m springboard title
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E-mail China.org.cn, July 23, 2013
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Li Shixin is airborne as he performs a dive during the men's 1m springboard final at the World Swimming Championships in Barcelona yesterday. |
Li Shixin became the first man to retain the world 1m springboard crown, stretching China's hold on the event and bringing the leading diving nation its second World Championship title in three days.
Li recovered from a disappointing first dive to record a score of 460.95 points and hold off Ukranian Illya Kvasha on 434.30 and Mexican Kevin Chavez on 431.55, who took silver and bronze, respectively.
"The other competitors were very strong. I was simply luckier today", the 25-year-old said.
"When I was younger, my coach showed me a video of this pool during the 1992 Olympic Games. It was my dream to compete here and of course to dive well. I was a bit nervous until the fourth dive, but then my coach told me to relax and I made my last two rounds with more confidence."
Li had been heavily favored to retain the title he won on home soil in Shanghai two years ago after also registering the highest score in qualifying on Saturday. However, it was his compatriot Sun Zhiyi who made the early running as he led after the first two rounds.
Li moved into the top three for the first time after his third dive, but his chances of victory looked to be slipping away when a poor fourth attempt saw him slip back to fifth.
The penultimate round though was to prove crucial as the then leader Matthieu Rosset's disastrous attempt saw the Frenchman slip out of contention for a medal and Li followed up with the best dive of the competition so far with an inward two-and-a-half somersault pike that registered an 86.70 from the judges.
And he went one better in the final round with a 87.45 to seal his triumph and China's second gold after Wu Minxia and Shi Tingmao were victorious in the women's synchronized 3m springboard on Saturday.
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