Chinese diver He Zi won gold in the women’s 1m springboard final on Tuesday by the finest of margins as she edged out Italy’s Tania Cagnotto by just one tenth of a point.
European champion Cagnotto looked set for gold as she led by five points going into the final round of dives, but He produced the best effort of the competition with her final attempt to squeak into first place with 307.10 points to the Italian’s 307.00.
China also took bronze through Wang Han who tallied 297.75 points.
The gold is He’s second individual world title after also winning six years ago in Melbourne, but she was made to produce her very best by Cagnotto in a high quality duel between the two.
On Monday, Chinese diver Chen Ruolin collected her fifth world championship gold medal and a fourth consecutive win in the women’s 10m synchronised platform as she and partner Liu Huixia blew away the field.
Franklin and Co. Launch US Post-Phelps Era
Missy Franklin has her sights set on eight events at swimming’s world championships in Barcelona as she heads a youthful US team aiming to maintain American dominance despite Michael Phelps’ departure.
The Americans’ youth movement was already in evidence at the 2012 London Olympics, where Franklin’s five medals included four golds and then 15-year-old Katie Ledecky denied home hope Rebecca Adlington to win the 800m freestyle.
Franklin, 18, set herself up for another strong international showing with world-leading times in the 100m and 200m backstrokes at the US trials in June, where she also put herself among the world leaders in winning the 100m and 200m freestyles.