Young divers stunned the viewers while veterans maintained stable form at the 2020 Chinese National Diving Championships, which came to a successful close on Wednesday in north China's Hebei Province. It was the first national diving competition since January this year.

Three Rio Olympics gold medalists Chen Aisen, Shi Tingmao and Ren Qian along with world champions Wang Han and Zhang Jiaqi were joined with 150 other divers at the national event.

Staged at the newly constructed Hebei Olympic Sports Center Swimming and Diving Hall, the event was the first leg of the Chinese diving national team's tryouts for the Tokyo Olympic Games which have been disrupted due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"To restart our tryouts for the Tokyo Olympics, we wiped out the points divers accumulated in previous tryouts and only had them for reference use," said Zhou Jihong, president of the Chinese Swimming Association.

"That aside, divers also have to adjust to the difficulties with switching venues and fierce nationwide competitions. For them, it is a lot of pressure."

Dubbed as the "dream team" with a total of 40 Olympic gold medals in its pocket, the Chinese diving team has maintained the world's highest caliber throughout the years. 

Despite the inevitable change of hands from the old generation to the young, the team kept its unbeaten streak at the Olympics as well as World Championships with new stars popping up. And it was still the case at this national event. 

Quan Hongchan, 13, from Guangdong Province delivered a stunning five-round performance at the women's 10-meter platform to claim the gold. She widened the gap against world champion Zhang Jiaqi after the latter had an average third-round diving and maintained her high-quality diving till the very end to top the podium.

In a post-game interview, she said she had not thought of defeating a few world champions on the platform.

"I just follow my coaches' instructions to take the competition as training. To be bold and just go jumping," said Quan.

World champion Zhang Jiaqi finished second with 409.10 points, a point enough to outrank foreign players in international competitions.

"I feel a little bit disappointed because I feel I have more experience and my techniques are much mature than her but I still lost," said Zhang, who was at the top of the podium four years ago at the same competition.

"I have accepted my defeat but I will keep competing."

The star-dubbed men's 10-meter platform on Tuesday featured two Olympic champions as well as four world champions as the 20-year-old Lian Junjie came from behind to outscore Yang Jian in the last jump to finish top at the podium.

It was the first time he jumped 409C action with a difficulty of 4.1 in formal competition as he only started to practice it in January.

"Starting in January, we've been training with the national team and the efforts seem to have paid off," said Lian.

"I only tried this action for a few times during tests but never in competitions. I'm quite happy with my performance."

The points Lian scored at the men's 10-meter platform, together with the scores Peng Jianfeng clocked at the men's one-meter springboard final, both surpassed the champion scores at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Zhou Jihong spoke highly of divers' performances at this stop and according to her, the event will be joined with two other national championships in January and May next year to serve as the final reference for the national team's selection for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

"We should stay confident as everyone works hard, and we remain competitive," said Zhou. 

"As everything can happen when it comes to competitive sports, the only thing we can do is making sure we are doing our best."

(Cover image: Yang Hao of Shaanxi competes during the men's 10-meter platform semifinal at the 2020 Chinese National Diving Championships in Shijiazhuang, north China's Hebei Province, October 6, 2020. /Xinhua)