FINA World Championships 2013: Si upstages Olympic champion in world 10m duel

AKUATIK INDONESIA, Fourteen-year-old Yajie Si dethroned defending champion Ruolin Chen, the Olympic gold medallist, in the final of the women's 10m platform at the FINA World Championships. Si, the youngest finalist, and Chen were exactly level after three of the five final dives, having astonishingly recorded precisely the same scores on each effort. Bu Si broke the deadlock in the fourth round as Chen faltered after Si had registered her own lowest score. The teenager then held her nerve in the final series and withstood a rousing challenge from the Olympic champion, whose final dive was not enough to bring her the gold. Chen, who had won her fourth successive world 10m synchro title earlier in the week, had been aiming to become only the second woman to retain the world individual 10m crown and emulate the great Mingxia Fu, who won in 1991 and 1994. It was the sixth Chinese one-two in the event and the seventh Chinese victory in 15 editions at the Worlds.

Si triumphed with 392.15 points, with Chen, four times Olympic champion, having won 10m and 10m synchro gold medals in 2008, less than four points adrift on 388.70. European champion Iulia Prokopchuk of Ukraine scooped the bronze on 358.40, more than 30 points behind the Chinese pair. It was the sixth diving title won by China out of the seven thus far contested in Barcelona. Only the men's 10m synchro, won by Germans Sascha Klein and Patrick Hausding, has escaped them.