Shandong's Lian Junjie capped his return to diving after a nine-month injury absence by overtaking Beijing veteran Cao Yuan on his final attempt at China's 15th National Games on Tuesday, capturing the gold medal in the men's 10m platform final in Guangzhou.

Cao started strong, earning 91.80 points on his first dive. Shaanxi's Zhao Renjie responded with a solid performance, briefly grabbing the lead after the second round. Lian then moved to the top following the third round, benefiting from very ill-timed mistakes by several other divers.

The lead shifted again over the next two rounds, with Cao regaining first place. On his final dive, Lian nailed a 105.45-point effort – the highest of the competition – clinching top honors with 530.85 points, just 3.5 points ahead of Cao, while the 14-year-old Zhao rounded out the podium in third place.

The victory highlighted a long-awaited comeback for Lian, after nearly a year out with a shoulder injury, with this triumph bookending his earlier all-around gold and team bronze medals at the country's top domestic multi-sport competition.

Another final saw Guangdong's Lin Shan claim the title in the women's 3m springboard.

Paris Olympics champion Chen Yiwen, also representing the co-host province, struggled on her 205B dive and fell out of contention. Another favorite, Sichuan's Chen Jia, faltered on the same dive in the penultimate round, allowing Lin to seize the lead.

Lin continued to perform steadily, finishing with 379.10 points and winning the gold medal. Chen Jia took silver while Chen Yiwen earned bronze.