China goes 1-2 in semifinals of men's 3-meter springboard diving at Paris Olympics

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SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — China moved a step closer to its sixth straight gold medal in diving, claiming the top two spots in the semifinals of the men’s 3-meter springboard semifinals Wednesday.

Wang Zongyuan led with 537.85 points over six dives, followed by defending Olympic champion Xie Siyi with 505.85. Jack Laugher of Britain was third at 467.05. Carson Tyler of the United States was seventh, also advancing to the 12-man final on Thursday. His teammate, Andrew Capobianco, was eliminated.

Chen Yiwen put China ahead in the preliminaries of women’s springboard, but her teammate, Chang Yani, faltered a bit.

Chen topped the field at 356.40, but Chang was only fourth at 308.75. The second and third spots went to Maddison Keeney of Australia (337.35) and Aranza Vazquez of Mexico (321.75).

Both Americans finished outside the top 18 and were eliminated. Sarah Bacon just missed at 19th, while Alison Gibson landed last in the 28-woman field after her feet struck the board as she was spinning through her opening dive. She wasn’t injured but received no points.

The semifinals are Thursday, with the finals set for Friday.

Wang is looking to move up to the top spot on the men’s podium after settling for a silver on springboard behind Xie at the Tokyo Olympics. Wang already won the men’s 3-meter synchronized with Long Daoyi at the Paris Games.

Likewise, Chen and Chang were gold medalists in women’s 3-meter synchronized springboard and came into the Olympics as huge favorites in the individual event. Chang is the reigning world champion, while Chen won the title in 2022 and ’23.

China has won the first five diving golds and is trying to become the first nation to sweep them all since the program was expanded from four to eight events at Sydney in 2000.