Asian Games | China sweeps both golds on diving's opening day

China swept both synchronized diving events on the opening day of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Saturday, with Chen Yuxi and Lu Wei winning the women's 10m platform and Wang Zongyuan and Zheng Jiuyuan taking the men's 3m springboard title.

Chen and Lu scored 347.82 points in the women's 10m platform synchro, finishing 30.18 points ahead of the DPRK pair. South Korea took bronze with 276.90 points.

The victory brought Chen back to a familiar venue where she won her first Olympic gold medal in the women's 10m synchronized platform five years ago.

China's Chen Yuxi and Lu Wei compete in the women's synchronised 10m platform final diving event during the 2026 Asian Games at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo on September 26, 2026. (Photo: AFP)

"When I just stood on the podium, I felt quite emotional. My first Olympic gold medal was also in the 10m (synchronized) platform here, and now I've come back and stood on the highest podium again," Chen said.

Chen said she was satisfied overall with her performance, singling out her 407C as a strong dive while acknowledging that she could improve her 5253B.

For Lu, the competition marked her Asian Games debut and another step in a partnership with Chen that is still taking shape. The pair rated their synchronization at 85 out of 100, according to Lu, leaving room for improvement.

"I'm not particularly excited yet. I made some mistakes in my fifth dive, and I need to improve them in the following training," Lu said.

Wang and Zheng then added China's second gold of the day in the men's 3m springboard synchro, scoring 465.87 points. Japan finished second on 355.56, with Malaysia taking bronze on 345.81.

Gold medallists China's diver Wang Zongyuan and China's diver Zheng Jiuyuan pose on the podium during the victory ceremony of the men's synchronised 3m springboard final diving event during the 2026 Asian Games at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo on September 26, 2026. (Photo: AFP)

The Chinese pair won by 110.31 points, but Wang said they could still improve their execution, particularly in the final two dives.

"There were no major problems with our synchronization and rhythm in the final two dives. The bigger issue was that our individual execution was not quite at the level we normally reach in training," he added.

Zheng, competing alongside the Olympic champion, said he was benefiting from Wang's experience.

"He (Wang) is becoming more and more experienced, so I just follow in his footsteps and move forward step by step," Zheng said.

The 20-year-old Zheng also has a longer-term goal in mind, hoping to continue developing alongside Wang and eventually compete with him at the Los Angeles Olympics.

"I hope we can walk onto the stage in Los Angeles together," Zheng said.