Synchronized Springboard, Men

Britain’s Jack Laugher was hoping to defend the title he won at Rio in 2016 but his partner on that occasion, Chris Mears, had retired from the sport to concentrate in becoming a music producer. Now, Laugher and his new partner Daniel Goodfellow were looking for a repeat success.

At the 2019 World Championships, the British duo finished second to China’s Cao Yuan and Xie Siyi. In Tokyo, Siyi had a new partner, Wang Zongyuan, and they were looking to win back the only diving gold medal China failed to win in Rio. Germany had medal candidates in Lars Rudiger and opening ceremony flagbearer Patrick Hausding, the 2016 individual springboard bronze medallist now in his fourth Olympics.

The Chinese pair were outstanding from the outset of the competition, and after the first dives led by 4.20 points from Japan, with the defending champion Laugher struggling in last place. In the second round the Chinese favourites scored three maximum 10s on their reverse dive as they increased their lead.

The United States overtook Japan into the silver medal position after dive number three and Mike Hixon, silver medalist at Rio, and new partner Andrew Capobianco stayed in second place throughout the rest of the competition. The bronze medal was not decided until the very last dive when Germany’s Hausding and Rudiger edged out the Mexican pair thanks to pulling off a difficult tucked forward 4.5 somersault, and their score of 85.50 won the bronze by 4.59 points. For Hauding, it was his third Olympic medal to go with the springboard individual in Rio and platform synchronised event at Beijing 2008.

Laugher and Goodfellow struggled with each dive and could only finish seventh, 85 points behind the Chinese pair, despite the second highest scoring dive in the final round. Only the ROC (who were joint second after two dives) finished lower than Great Britain as Yevgeny Kuznetsov and Nikita Shleykher recorded the first foul dive at the Olympics since Athina 2004 when China’s Peng Bo and Wang Kenan produced a zero score, also in the springboard synchronised event. Japan’s Ken Terauchi bid farewell to the Olympics after six appearances stretching back to 1996. The 41-year-old and his partner Sho Sakai finished fifth.