HANGZHOU — China’s Olympic champion Quan Hongchan outclassed teammate Chen Yuxi in a thrilling battle to win the women’s 10m platform gold medal on Tuesday at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
The 16-year-old Quan and 17-year-old Chen, who combined to claim their first Asian Games title with victory in the synchronized event last Saturday, showed that they are in a league of their own once again.
Quan led the first three dives, while Chen surpassed her after the fourth round. But Quan executed her final dive nearly flawlessly and earned a set of 10s to finish with a total of 438.20 points. Chen, triple world champion in the event, missed out on a top spot by 2.55 points.
Malaysia’s Pandelela Rinong Pmag came a distant third with 280.50.
Quan jumped to fame at the Tokyo Games when she got the better of Chen with a new world record of 466.20 points to win Olympic gold. Chen managed to revenge in last year’s Budapest worlds and the Fukuoka worlds this July.