Britain clinch mixed team gold, Koloi bags 1m springboard title
Doha- The World Aquatics Championships – Doha began on Friday at the Hamad Aquatics Centre with diving competitions as Britain won the mixed team event. Led by the returning Tom Daley, Britain splashed to gold with Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix, Daniel Goodfellow and Scarlett Mew Jensen combining across six dives to score 421.65 points overall.
The silver medal went to the Mexican foursome of Gabriela Agundez Garcia, Randal Willars Valdez, Jahir Ocampo Marroquin and Aranza Vazquez Montano at 412.80. Australia claimed the bronze at 385.35 with a team that included Cassiel Rousseau, Li Shixin, Maddison Keeney and Nikita Hains.
Daley, who won gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the men’s synchronised 10m platform event, was competing internationally for the first time in over two years. “I was so terrified,” said Daley. “But it feels good to be back out there and competing again. To do it alongside this team has just been amazing. I didn’t quite expect that it was going to be the gold medal, but it’s a great way to start the competition.”
Each team were required to perform one individual dive each, plus a 3m synchro and 10m synchro dive.
The World Aquatics Championships is being held for the first time in the Middle East with the participation of more than 2,600 players representing 201 countries, competing in 6 sports: swimming, diving, water polo, Artistic swimming, open water swimming, and high diving.
Meanwhile, Australia’s Alysha Koloi won the women’s 1-metrer springboard. The 22-year-old Koloi, competing at worlds for the first time, grabbed the lead on the fourth of five dives and held on in the final round to finish with 260.50 points.
The silver went to Britain’s Grace Reid (257.25), while Egypt’s Maha Amer captured her country’s first diving medal ever at worlds.
China was the reigning world champion in both events, but the world’s diving superpower did not have entries in Doha as it focuses on disciplines that will be on the Olympic program at Paris this summer.
At last year’s world championships in Fukuoka, China won 12 of 13 events and captured 19 medals in all.
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