Shi Tingmao extended China's winning streak to eighth in the women's 3m springboard as she collected her first world title in the individual event at the FINA World Swimming Championships here on Saturday.
China's Diving Queen Guo Jingjing had won five times at the world championships and Wu Minxia, He Zi followed the victory feat before Shi claimed the gold medal in 383.55 points. Defending champion He Zi came to second in 377.45 and 1m springboard champion Tania Cagnotto of Italy finished third 356.15.
As the front runner of the preliminary and semifinal, Shi said she did not perform as good as what she dove in the semifinal. "I was a little bit nervous today because it was my first time to compete in the 3m springboard individual. To be honest I did not perform my best that none of my dives were perfect," said the winner of 3m synchro springboard winner together with Wu Minxia.
"I did not expect to win the gold medal. I just kept thinking about the details of my routines. As everyone is tired, I wish to have a good rest since I finished all my events now. I will keep my current dives with the same degree of difficulty while improving their height and making them more perfect," Shi said.
Defending champion He Zi said she was satisfied with her performance. "I performed my best and I am happy about that.Shi and I have different styles and I need to learn from her the secret of her clean entries," said He who had a bronze in the 1m springboard.
In the synchronized swimming, Russia bagged home the champion of free combination and swept 9 golds out of 10 events offer while the United States took the only one left in the mixed technical event. China finished with 6 silvers and 1 bronze.
Simone Ruffini of Italy and Ana Marcela Cunha of Brazil each claimed gold medals in the men's and women's 25km open water swimming events.
The mixed 3m springboard and men's 10m platform will be held as the last two diving events on Aug. 2 while swimming competition will start in the temporary pool at the Kazan Arena which is marked as the first ever swimming pool on a football pitch in history.
