North Korea won their first gold medal at the FINA World Championships through 16-year-old Kim Kuk-hyang in women’s 10m diving on Thursday.
In her first international competition, Kim produced a stunning final dive, earning two perfect 10 scores from the seven judges, for a total of 397.05 points.
On the very next dive, the leader up to that point, world champion Si Yajie of China, made errors that dropped her to fourth.
“I would like to appreciate our government and our nation for their great support,” Kim said through a translator.
She added that she expected “the whole people ... will come to the streets” to welcome her when she returns to North Korea.
Kim saluted during the medal ceremony, which she said was a sign of respect to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The silver went to 14-year-old Chinese diver Ren Qian on 388.
“I don’t think my second place is related to my age,” Ren said, adding that Kim’s high scores made her “nervous.”
Pandelela Rinong Anak Pamg of Malaysia was third on 385.05.
North Korea had never won a medal at any aquatic worlds until this month and now have two, both in diving. Kim Un-hyang and Song Nam-hyang won the first on Monday, a bronze in the women’s synchronized 10m platform.
All 12 finalists earned places for their countries at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro next year.
Scissor-kicking to Swan Lake in front of a cheering home crowd, Russia’s synchronized swimmers rallied to overtake the US for gold in mixed duet free.
The US’ Bill May and Kristina Lum were first after their Firebird routine earned 91.4667 points on Thursday night.
Performing last, the Russian duo of Aleksandr Maltsev and Darina Valitova won over the judges with their expressive ballet moves and totaled 91.7333 points to take gold.
“At first, I could not believe that we were first,” Valitova said. “These emotions are amazing. Maybe I will realize tomorrow what we have done. We fixed our faults and performed better than in the preliminaries.”
Italians Giorgio Minisini and Mariangela Perrupato followed the US duo, but could not come close and settled for bronze with 89.3333.
The result was a reversal of the mixed duet technical final, where May and partner Christina Jones beat Maltsev and Valitova by 0.2122 points for gold. Maltsev, the only man participating in synchro in Russia, was upset and said the Russians were underscored in comparison to the other teams.
“It was psychologically hard for us after second place in the technical routine, but many people supported us,” Maltsev said. “People were telling us, ‘It is better to perform the way you did and get silver than become first the way the Americans did.’ And we made it.”
Russia has won six of seven synchro events so far, including Ishchenko’s win in the solo free routine on Wednesday. Their only loss was to May and Jones.
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