Wang Zongyuan Cao Yuan On the evening of June 27th, Beijing time, the men’s 3-meter springboard semifinals of the 2022 FINA Swimming World Championships came to an end at the Danube Aquatic Center in Budapest. The two Chinese players Wang Zongyuan and Cao Yuan ranked first and se

Wang Zongyuan

Cao Yuan

On the evening of June 27th, Beijing time, the men’s 23-meter springboard semi-finals of the 2022 FINA Swimming World Championships came to an end at the Danube Aquatic Center in Budapest. The two Chinese players Wang Zongyuan and Cao Yuan ranked first and second in the competition and advanced to the finals respectively. On the evening of June 28, the two will compete for another gold medal for the Chinese diving team in the finals of this project.

In the men's 3-meter springboard preliminaries that afternoon, as many as 53 players participated. The time was lengthy and it was a test for every athlete. Perhaps because the competition lasted for nearly four hours and the interval between each two jumps was too long, Cao Yuan suffered from inattention. The last two movements were not completed satisfactorily, especially the last one. There was a big mistake in the jump of 109C (forward somersault with half tuck in four quarters), and the ranking fell to the third place behind the famous British player Jack Raffl. The young Wang Zongyuan was full of energy and performed steadily, with 492 points. First place in the preliminaries. In the evening semi-finals of

, there were only 18 contestants left. The time and rhythm of this competition were much tighter. Wang Zongyuan still performed every action very steadily, taking his time and staying in the leading position. He finished with 6 jumps and took the first place again after the preliminaries with a high score of 547.95 points. Cao Yuan's condition improved, surpassing Raffl after the fourth jump, and finally ranked second with a total score of 482.50 points, which was nearly 64 points higher than his score in the preliminaries.

This is Wang Zongyuan’s first time competing in an Olympic event at the World Championships. Three years ago in Gwangju, South Korea, he only competed in the men’s 1-meter springboard competition in non-Olympic events and won the championship. This time in Budapest, Wang Zongyuan will Fighting for his first World Championships 3-meter springboard gold medal. Cao Yuan has won the double 3-meter springboard championship at the World Championships three times. At the Rio Olympics, he also won the gold medal in the single 3-meter springboard final. However, Cao Yuan has not won the single springboard at the World Championships. The 27-year-old champion of the project is also fighting for his own breakthrough this time.

Text for this page/Reporter Liu Ailin

Photo for this page/Xinhua News Agency

Coordinator for this page/Du Rui