Wang Zongyuan wins China's 10th diving gold at swimming worlds

FUKUOKA, Japan -- Wang Zongyuan retained the men's 3-meter springboard title to earn China its 10th diving gold from as many events at the World Aquatics Championships here on Thursday.

The 21-year-old, triumphant with three gold medals at last year's championships in Budapest, accumulated 538.10 points over six dives, outpacing second-placed Osamar Olvera Ibarra of Mexico by 30.60 points. Another victory for China came as Long Daoyi took the bronze with 499.75 points.

Wang's gold in Fukuoka marks his second, following his 3m synchronized springboard triumph.

China's prospects of repeating their stunning performance from the previous year - where they bagged all 13 gold medals in Budapest - are looking increasingly likely with three events left: the women's 3m springboard and men's and women's 10m platforms.

"I am thrilled to earn another gold for China, although I don't believe I've delivered my best," Wang confessed. "This year I'm participating in only two events, making it slightly less demanding than last year when I competed in three."

In the artistic swimming competition, Chinese twin sisters and defending champions of the duet free, Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi, narrowly missed the top podium spot by a mere 0.2103 points.

The Chinese duo initially took the lead from Japan's Moe Higa and Mashiro Yasunaga with 255.2480 points, only to be outdone by Austrian twin sisters Anna-Maria and Eirini-Marina Alexandri who took the lead with more challenging and perfectly-executed routines.

Claiming the title with 255.4583 points were the Alexandri sisters, bronze medalists at the previous year's championships in Budapest. Higa and Yasunaga settled for third with 249.5167 points.

Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi, who ranked ninth in the preliminaries, expressed satisfaction with their silver.

Qianyi remarked, "Today's performance in the final was generally superior to the preliminaries. I think it's great because we were able to execute what we came here to do."

In other finals of the day, ex-Olympic champion Gregorio Paltrinieri anchored Italy to the mixed 4x1500m open water relay title.

Paltrinieri, victor of the men's 1,500m at the 2016 Rio Olympics, delivered a stellar leg to guide Italy to the finish line in one hour, 10 minutes, and 31.20 seconds.

The victory thwarted Germany's attempt to secure all five open water gold medals. Consequently, Paltrinieri, 28, secured his sixth gold and 14th medal of any color across six World Championships.

Hungary came in second, with Australia taking third.