Chen Yiwen kept China’s hopes of a diving sweep in Paris alive with a gold medal in the women’s 3m springboard competition on Friday.
Chen was the only diver to score better than 70 on all five of her dives in the finals. Going into the fifth and final round, she had a 34 point lead over Australia’s Maddison Keeney. Virtually just needing to complete a dive on her final jump, she completed a forward 2 1/2 with a twist and scored 76.50 points to best Keeney by 32.9 points at the end of the day.
It wasn’t as good of a day for Chen’s teammate and synchro partner Chang Yani. Chang, the defending world champion in the springboard, struggled in the semifinals, especially on her inverse dive. She scored just 48 points on the inverse in the semis, and was even worse in the finals. She didn’t get a strong enough takeoff from the board and couldn’t get full rotation. She scored just 42 points, the worst score of any dive in the first round.
Chang battled back the rest of the morning, scoring at least 64 on all four of her remaining dives to eventually finish third. Chang bested Italy’s Chiara Pellacani by nine points. Her bronze medal means all Chinese divers in Paris have finished on the podium, but this is the first individual diving event China hasn’t finished 1-2.
Chang and Chen won gold together in the synchronized springboard event earlier in these Olympics.
Keeney built a big lead for second throughout the day, and secured the silver medal on her final dive. On a forward dive with two twists she received a score of 78.20, the highest of any dive on the day. She finished with a score of 343.10.
This was the second Olympic appearance for Keeney, 28. She won bronze in the springboard synchro at the 2016 Olympics.
China’s final chance at the diving sweep is on Friday in the finals of the men’s platform. If a Chinese diver wins gold, it will be the first time a single country has won all eight diving events at a single Olympics.
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