Platform, Women

Chen Yuxi and Quan Hongchan had been the dominant forces on the platform in the years prior to Paris. Chen (18) had claimed a record of three World titles (2019, and 2022-23), but Quan (17) had won the Olympic gold in Tokyo and the most recent World title in Doha 2024. Together, they had already won gold in the synchronized platform event in Paris. The duo had gone one-two at the four most recent major championships and the big question in Paris was “which order they would finish in?”

Quan started off the final with a perfect dive, with all judges giving her 10 points. With a difficulty of three, this landed her a 90-point dive. From there on, Quan controlled the final. Chen was never far behind her, but could only better Quan in the third dive, and never took the lead. For Quan, it was her second gold medal in the event, making her the fourth woman to have won two platform golds.

Behind the two Chinese divers, it was a rather unexpected bronze medal for North Korea’s Kim Mi-Rae. Kim had won a silver in the synchro event but, for the individual event, Caeli McKay (CAN) and Andrea Spendolini Sirieix (GBR) had been more fancied.