China’s Xie Siyi has won the men’s 3-meter springboard competition at the FINA World Championships in Budapest.

Chinese divers had finished on top of the podium in the men's 3-meter springboard for the last five editions of this event. Xie Siyi and Rio Olympics champion Cao Yuan were looking to make it six times in a row, as Cao came into the final ranked No. 1, and as the favorite for this year's games in Budapest.

However, Cao made a mistake on his fourth dive which dropped him to the sixth place. For his fifth dive, Cao chose a very difficult one that only one Chinese had ever attempted before in world competitions. But, perhaps because of an injured foot, he did not do well.

No such problems for Xie, who did great in his last few dives, particularly on his sixth, and claimed the gold medal, 20.95 points ahead of Germany's Patrick Hausding, while the 2012 London Olympics champion, Russia's Ilia Zakharov, took the bronze.

"I think I have achieved my goal, as this is the first time for me to take part in a main Olympic discipline, the three-meter springboard. This is the first time for me to grab gold in this event, which provides both encouragement and experience for me," said Xie.

Zhou Jihong, Chinese diving team leader said, "Xie Siyi put on an excellent performance in the final, especially the latter part of the competition. Patrick Hausding dove before him, and the German earned high scores every time. That put a lot of pressure on Xie, but he handled it well. We discussed the situation with Cao Yuan before the final. Despite his injury, he hoped to nail a high-difficulty dive on his fifth attempt. We supported him. This is a precious experience for Cao."

In addition, China’s Jiang Wenwen and Jiang Tingting took silvers in the synchronized swimming duet, as Russia’s Alexandra Patskevich and Svetlana Kolesnichenko won gold with 97.0000 points.