China’s Chen Yuxi reclaims 10m platform title at world c’ships; S’pore’s Ainslee Kwang finishes 17th

SINGAPORE – As far as 19-year-olds go, Chinese diver Chen Yuxi might be one of the world’s most talented teenagers.

With 40 medals – 35 of those gold – before her 20th birthday in September, she proceeded to add her 36th title when she bulldozed her way to the women’s 10m platform crown at the World Aquatics Championships (WCH) on July 31.

After placing second at the 2024 edition in Doha, she reclaimed the title with a commanding performance of 430.50 points, finishing streets ahead of Germany’s Pauline Pfeif (367.10) and compatriot Xie Peiling (358.20).

It is her fourth time winning this event after similar successes in 2019, 2022 and 2023.

Despite being a serial winner, she was still emotional as she gave her coach a big hug upon learning of her latest victory at the OCBC Aquatic Centre.

“Even though it’s the fourth time, each win carries a different meaning,” said Chen, who is the diver with the most gold medals (three) at this year’s meet, with three days of competition left.

She added: “This past year has been a journey of growth and constant adjustments for me, so achieving this result today feels like a form of encouragement.”

After her first dive put her top of the pile, she slipped to second place when Xie performed a stellar dive of 91.20.

However, the Olympic silver medallist demonstrated that consistency is key as a series of well-executed dives left her competition in the dust, ultimately ending the final a whopping 63.40 points ahead of Pfeif, to the elation of her fans who made up the majority of the crowd.

As she walked past her followers, they screamed wildly, waving placards bearing her name and flags and even tossing gifts like stuffed toys onto the ground which she received gratefully.

“They do this every time,” said Chen. “(The gifts are) always the kind I like.”

Pfeif was equally emotional after claiming silver, dedicating her first WCH medal to her late grandfather who died in July at the age of 85.

Teary-eyed, she said: “He was my biggest fan and if he would be here, he would be so, so proud of me. He knew I could do it, and every medal that I’m winning now and every good result is for him.

“This medal means everything to me.”

Having never placed higher than 10th in the WCH, she did not envision herself on the podium but she did “get a taste of it” after finding herself in third place after the semi-finals.

“I wanted it even more. But now, standing here being second in the final, it’s just a whole other level,” said the 23-year-old.

Singapore’s Ainslee Kwang finished 17th out of 18th in the semi-finals with a score of 242.35, having made history by becoming the first diver from the Republic to reach this stage.

Rating her semi-final performance a five out of 10, she said there was no added pressure to finish among the top 12 divers and qualify for the final.

Ainslee, 14, said: “It (the semi-finals) doesn’t really make a difference. It’s just like any other competition. You put your heart and mind into it and compete as per normal.”

Getting the simple things right was of utmost importance, hence the dives she selected were on average at a lower difficulty level than her competitors, but that also put her at a disadvantage in terms of scoring.

Reflecting on her WCH campaign, she said: “It was definitely fun, also really hard because I had so much training. I’m really proud of myself.

“I made a lot of friends from different countries. Since we’re all divers, we can relate to each other,” said the Secondary 2 student from Methodist Girls’ School.

Her coach Charlie Tu chose to highlight her achievement instead, emphasising that “after all, she’s just a kid”.

Tu said: “It is her first time participating in a competition like this at home, in front of so many friends. She really wanted to do well.

“But sometimes, when you focus too much on wanting to do well, you may overlook the technical aspects. So I helped her make some technical adjustments.

“Still, her score was within the expected range, so as her coach, I’m very satisfied.”