ESSEN, Germany, July 23 (Xinhua) — Chinese divers swept all five remaining events and the United States captured seven of nine swimming gold medals as the aquatics contests came to a close on Wednesday at the Rhine-Ruhr World University Games.
Chinese divers finished one-two in the women's 1m springboard as Ouyang Yu won the event with 273.85 points, followed by compatriot Wang Yi with 266.25. Team USA's Avery Giese took the bronze with 251.85.
Zhang Wenao and Hu Yukang earned China another diving gold in the men's synchronized 3m springboard with 412.62 points. The American pair of Joshua Sollenberger and Luke Sitz placed second with 380.34, while South Korea's duo Kim Ji-wook and Kim Yeong-taek settled for third with 355.56.
The mixed 10m title also went to China as Zheng Junzhi and Wang Wenying scored 341.94 points. The diving powerhouse also wrapped up the men's and women's team titles.
China collected a total of 12 golds and eight silvers in diving at the meet.
In taekwondo, China added one more gold in the women's team event by beating South Korea, finishing with four golds, two silvers and three bronzes in the sport.
China claimed its first table tennis gold in the women's doubles final, which featured an all-Chinese matchup.
Team USA finished the swimming meet with 27 gold medals and 50 total medals after winning seven more golds on the day.
The Americans completed a sweep of the relays, winning both the men's and women's 400 medley relays by a wide margin.
Daniel Diehl won the men's 200m backstroke final by less than 0.1 seconds over teammate David King. The two Americans finished more than two seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Mathys Chouchaoui of France was third in 1:58.08.
Emma Weber earned her second gold in the 100m breaststroke after winning the 50m earlier. She touched in 1:07.09 to edge Poland's Barbara Mazurkiewicz. Shona Branton of Canada took bronze in 1:07.75.
Matt King made it 3-for-3, winning the men's 50m freestyle in 21.84 seconds. Italy's Giovanni Guatti finished second in 22.01 from lane seven, just ahead of Lithuania's Jokubas Keblys, who clocked 22.02 for third.
Tess Howley followed her Games record from Tuesday's semifinal with a dominant win in the final, touching in 2:05.69 to finish two seconds clear. Lindsay Looney was second in 2:07.79, just ahead of Italy's Paola Borrelli.
Maxine Parker won the women's 50m freestyle, edging fellow American Julia Dennis with a 24.54 to 24.58 finish. South Africa's Olivia Nel claimed bronze in 24.82.
Francisca Martins broke the U.S. sweep in the evening's last event, coming from behind to win the women's 400m freestyle from lane seven, Portugal's first swimming gold of the meet.
Takumi Mori won the men's 400m individual medley in a dramatic finish, touching just 0.1 seconds ahead of teammate Riku Yamaguchi and 0.14 ahead of American Baylor Nelson.
Five athletics gold medals were awarded Wednesday, going to five different delegations.
South African Lythe Pillay, the 2022 U20 world 400m champion and World Athletics Relays gold medalist, won the men's 400m in a season-best 44.84 seconds. Hungary's Patrik Enyingi (45.41) and Italy's Edoardo Scotti (45.61) completed the podium.
Barbora Malikova of the Czech Republic claimed the women's 400m in a season-best 51.52, beating Croatia's Veronika Drljacic (PB 51.66) and Italy's Alessandra Bonora (52.41).
Kenya's Brian Musau clocked a season-best 28:42.39 to win the men's 10,000m. Britain's David Mullarkey (28:43.44) was second, followed by Spain's Mario Montero (PB 28:45.02).
Turkiye's Berke Akcam won the men's 400m hurdles in 49.29, while Ukraine's Mykhailo Kokhan took the hammer throw with a 77.10m effort, edging Germany's Merlin Hummel by just 0.07m. Italy's Giorgio Olivieri threw a season-best 73.78m.
China edged Poland 71-67 to reach the women's basketball final and will meet the United States, who beat Hungary 73-71 in the other semifinal.
Team USA leads the medal standings with 28 golds (27 from swimming), 20 silvers and 24 bronzes after seven days of competition. China is second with 19 golds, 20 silvers and five bronzes. South Korea holds third with 14 golds, seven silvers and 17 bronzes. Japan moved into fourth with 10 golds, eight silvers and 15 bronzes.
(Source: Xinhua)
Editor: Wang Shasha
