Australian Cassiel Rousseau wins men’s 10m platform to deny China diving clean sweep at world meet
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Cassiel Rousseau of Australia on his way to a shock men's 10m platform gold at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka on July 22.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
FUKUOKA – Australia’s Cassiel Rousseau denied China a diving clean sweep at the aquatics world championships in Japan on Saturday, when he claimed a dramatic gold in the competition’s final event.
China had clinched all 12 diving events earlier going into the men’s 10m platform but Rousseau had the last laugh, winning the event with a score of 520.85.
China’s Lian Junjie was second on 512.35, ahead of compatriot Yang Hao on 504.00.
Rousseau, who won 10m platform gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, claimed his first world championships medal.
Rousseau was fourth at the 2022 world championships in Budapest and pulled ahead after the fifth dive when previous leader Lian’s poor execution of 207B – back 3.5 somersaults pike – earned only 70.20 points.
Before the final round, Rousseau had built a lead of 1.05 points over second-placed Kyle Kothari of Britain. Lian was third 8.50 points adrift.
In the final round, Rousseau and Lian, who uncorked the same dive, both earned 98.05 points, which was enough for Rousseau to seal victory. Kothari dropped to fifth after he faltered in his last dive.
(From left) Silver medallist Lian Junjie of China, gold medallist Cassiel Rousseau of Australia and bronze medallist Yang Hao of China on the men's 10m platform podium at the World Aquatics Championships.
China won every diving gold in Budapest and looked to be on course for a repeat when Zhu Zifeng and Lin Shan won the mixed 3m synchronised springboard earlier in the day.
The pair scored 326.10 to finish ahead of Australia’s Maddison Keeney and Dominic Bedggood on 307.38 and Italy’s Chiara Pellacani and Matteo Santoro on 294.12.
Zhu and Lin won the title in Hungary but Lin said going into the event as defending champions made it “more difficult”.
“We felt more pressure and were very nervous,” said Lin, who picked up her second gold of the competition after winning the women’s 1m springboard.
“However, we performed well today. We practised a lot to make our motion synchronised.” AFP, XINHUA
