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China pair wins women's synchro springboard gold, first of possible diving sweep

Posted at 2:31 AM, Jul 25, 2021
and last updated 2021-07-25 04:54:15-04

RESULT

The Chinese pair of Shi Tingmao and Wang Han nailed their final three dives to win the women's synchronized 3m springboard gold medal by more than 25 points. 

China has sights set on a sweep of all eight diving gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics, a feat they fell one place shy of at the Rio 2016 Olympics. 

After the first two rounds of dives at a lower difficulty level, the competition was up for grabs, including for American duo Krysta Palmer and Alison Gibson. The final three higher degree of difficulty rounds told a different story. 

 China executed the three best scoring dives of the competition, all north of 74 points, to surge ahead. A pair of missed dives for Palmer and Gibson saw them drop to the bottom of the eight-team rankings.

Canada's Jennifer Abel, twice a fourth place finisher in Rio, finally got her Olympic medal, a silver with partner Melissa Citrini-Beaulieu. Germany's Lena Hentschel and Tina Punzel took bronze.