China's rookie diver Xie Siyi shows his medal after winning the men's 1m springboard final at the FINA World Swimming Championships on Monday, July 27, at Kazan, Russia. (Photo : www.scmp.com)
China's rookie diver Xie Siyi made an unexpected victory after a come-from-behind performance to win the men's 1m springboard final at the FINA World Swimming Championships on Monday, July 27, at Kazan, Russia, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
The victory brings to four the total number of gold medals won by Chinese divers so far at the Kazan championships.
According to the report, Xie placed second after the first three rounds, 4.35 points behind the leading Jahir Ocampo Marroquin of Mexico. However, Xie turned the tables in his fourth dive and snatched the top place until he won the last dive with 485.50 points.
Illya Kvasha of Ukraine took the silver with 449.05, while Mike Hixon of the United States finished third with 428.30. Jahir Ocampo Marroquin of Mexico, the pace setter, later got fourth place after a big flaw in his fifth dive.
Xie, 19, admitted that during the preliminary, he was nervous but later relaxed in the final.
"I did not expect to win the gold. It is my first World Championships, I thought a medal should be good because I has just turned to the springboard for about six months. I was very nervous during the preliminary and did not perform my best. Today I just showed my normal training form and felt more relaxed than in the preliminary," Xie said.
As a former platform diver, Xie was good at dives with high degree of difficulty, such as 109C and 407C. He said he broke his right ankle in early 2014 and his injury made him shift to springboard at the beginning of this year.
"So I am not as stable and confident on the springboard," Xie explained.
Xie is next scheduled to compete in the mixed team event together with Olympic champion Chen Ruolin.
"The title gives me a lot of confidence in the mixed team event. I will try my best," he said.
In the women's 10m platform synchro, defending champions Chen Ruolin and Liu Huixia will try to retain their title.
On July 25, Olympic champion Wu Minxia and two-time world champion Shi Tingmao clinched their second-straight world title in the three-meter women's synchronized springboard event.
