In the early morning of February 11, Beijing time, the men's 10-meter platform final of the 2024 Doha World Swimming Championships ended at the Hamad Aquatics Center, which is also the final of the last diving event of this World Championships. The two Chinese players Yang Hao and veteran Cao Yuan played well, winning the championship and runner-up, and ended the Chinese diving team beautifully. This is also the ninth gold medal won by the "Dream Team" in this competition, they participated in a total of 10 events, except for the non-Olympic men's 1m springboard competition failed to win the gold medal, the rest of the gold medals, once again proved their strength and invincibility, and the list of participants in the Paris Olympics is basically released.
It was a super sports night in Doha, with the Asian Cup final at the Lusail Stadium attracting a large number of fans as the host team took part. The men's platform final of the World Swimming Championships, which began almost at the same time, did not seem to be affected by the diversion of sports fans, and the audience in the Hamad Aquatic Center was more than at any time in the previous days, almost to the extent that it was full, and even the girls of the Chinese Huayou team who had finished the competition came to the scene to cheer for the comrades of the Chinese diving team, and the atmosphere was very warm.
The only gold medal lost by the Chinese team in the last World Championships in Fukuoka last year was the men's platform championship, which represented the Chinese team at that time Yang Hao and the men's double platform champion Lian Junjie this time. In order to regain the lost gold medal in men's platform jumping at the World Championships, this time the Chinese team recalled Beijing veteran Cao Yuan and Yang Hao to partner with a new double insurance. Yang Hao, who has just celebrated his 26th birthday, has participated in the World Championships six times, but has never won the men's 10m platform singles event. The 29-year-old, who celebrated his birthday in Doha a few days ago, predates Yang Hao's participation in the World Championships, dating back to Barcelona in 2013, but missed one session last year due to injury. This is Cao Yuan's sixth World Championships journey, although Cao Yuan has won gold medals in different events in three Olympic competitions, and is also the only World Championships men's single 10m platform champion, both of them want to achieve a new breakthrough in their careers in Doha.
In the semifinals, Cao Yuan and Yang Hao ranked first and third respectively, and were able to successfully advance to the finals. But as it turned out, as a battle-hardened veteran, Yang Hao's self-adjustment was quick, and his performance in the final was excellent. Cao Yuan is the same, he is close to 30 years old, he has a lot of injuries, continuous treatment, recovery, may no longer be in his peak state, so he has not participated in the competition for more than a year, but once he comeback, he is still the world's top men's platform jumper, worthy of the gold medalist in the Tokyo Olympics. As the game progressed, the scores of the two Chinese players were stalemate with other competitors at the beginning, and they were slowly in the lead, and after the fifth jump, they were basically in the "safe zone", and it was up to them to see who could win the championship for the Chinese team, Yang Hao was only about 2 points ahead of Cao Yuan. The final jump turned the competition into a show, and Yang Hao jumped his second super-100 move in the final on the 109C (forward somersault and four and a half knees), scoring a game-high 107.30 points and winning the championship with 564.05 points. Cao Yuan's last two jumps were close to 100 points, and finally scored 553.20 points to win the second place. Ukraine's Celida, who is good at pressing water, and Mexico's Valdés, who is known for his ultra-high difficulty, finished third and fourth respectively, and these two players may pose a threat to Chinese athletes at the Paris Olympics, but this time at the World Championships, they still lost convincingly.
So far, the diving competition of this World Championships has ended, the Chinese team has signed up for 10 competitions, won all 8 Olympic events, and won the gold medal in the mixed 10-meter platform final, and produced China, which may also be the world's first Olympic event 10-year-old Huang Jianjie, has trained the team and gained a lot. The only thing that failed to win gold was the men's 1m springboard event in the non-Olympic Games, which did not have a big impact. It should be said that the "Dream Team" has achieved the goal of participating in this World Championships, and has also completed the task of training the team and selecting the squad for the Paris Olympic Games. If there are no major accidents, the participants in the eight events of the Paris Olympics are the gold medalists and silver medalists of the World Championships in Doha (the "Dream Team" won the gold and silver medals in the double events), and the comeback of the two Olympic champions and veterans Xie Sicheng and Cao Yuan made the men's board and men's platform events of the Chinese team more stable and down-to-earth, which is also one of the gains of the "Dream Team" in Doha.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Liu Ailin
Editor/Wang Fan