Van Rouwendaal, Ibarra clinch gold
Doha: Sharon Van Rouwendaal won the 10km open water title event for the second time on Saturday at the Doha World Aquatics Championships. After a highly tactical race, in the bay of Doha’s Old Harbour, the 30-year-old Dutch swimmer, Olympic champion in 2016, won in 1 hour 57 minutes and 26 seconds.
Van Rouwendaal, who won the title in Budapest two years ago, edged Spain’s Maria de Valdes by one tenth of a second. Portugal’s Angelica Andre took bronze 1.40sec back. Reigning Olympic champion Ana Marcela Cunha of Brazil was fifth, four seconds behind the winner. The top 13 finishers locked up qualifying spots at this summer’s Paris Olympic Games.
At the Hamad Aquatic Centre, Osmar Olvera Ibarra gave Mexico its second diving gold medal in the history of the World Aquatics Championships, winning the men’s 1m springboard. Olvera became the first diver from a country other than China to claim the top spot in the event since Alexandre Despatie of Canada in 2005.
Paolo Espinosa is the only other Mexican diving world champion, capturing gold on the 10m platform at Rome in 2009. The 19-year-old Olvera was a silver medallist on both 1m and 3m springboard at last summer’s world championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
Olvera led the morning preliminaries and cruised through the final, posting a score of 431.75 points over six dives. The silver went to Li Shixin of Australia at 395.70, while Ross Haslam of Britain took the bronze in 393.10.
China, which has dominated diving at both the Olympics and world championships, claimed its first gold in Doha when 13-year-old Huang Jianjie and Zhang Jiaqi won the mixed 10m synchronised platform. With its focus firmly on Paris, China sent a scaled-back team to Doha, giving other nations a chance to shine. The diving superpower didn’t enter the first two events on Friday and is assured of its fewest gold medals at worlds since settling for eight in 2017. Over the last three championships, China has claimed 37 of 39 gold medals.
In the mixed event, Huang and 19-year-old Zhang romped to victory for China with 353.82 points. Zhang added to the gold won at Fukuoka while paired with Wang Feilong.
Jo Jin Mi and Im Yong Myong of North Korea took the silver in 303.96, while the bronze went to Kevin Berlin Reyes and Alejandra Estudillo Torres of Mexico at 296.13. Many top athletes are skipping Doha, which is hosting the worlds a year behind schedule because of the Covid-19 pandemic. This is the first time the world championships have been held in the same calendar year as the Summer Games.
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