China moved to within just one victory of a historic diving clean sweep Saturday, as US great Michael Phelps said he was determined to go out with a bang in his final year of swimming. With basketball icon Yao Ming watching from the stands, Wu Minxia claimed the 3m springboard title ahead of synchro partner He Zi, giving the hosts a stunning nine out of nine gold medals at the Crescent Lagoon pool.
Wu's first individual world title - just months after the retirement of her former partner, "diving queen" Guo Jingjing - means the pressure will fall on Qiu Bo to complete the first ever 10-medal haul in Sunday's men's 10m final. But Qiu looked in sublime form as he led the semi-finals by nearly 80 points, with British reigning champion Tom Daley well back in sixth, and will be hot favourite to put the final seal on China's total dominance.
Meanwhile Phelps, who has 14 Olympic titles, admitted it would be "really weird to hang up the suit" but said he was hoping to write a final, magnificent chapter - starting with the Shanghai swimming events from Sunday. "I am excited for the next year and I'm excited to move on and try some other things but also at the same point I think it's going to be really weird to hang up the suit," he said.
"Just thinking about all the memories that you've gone through and experiences that we've had and pools we've been to, countries we've been to, so I think that was kind of hard to think about. "I thought about that a lot a month or two ago and it's just strange for me to think about, but I know that I've got a year left and it's going to be a good year. I'm excited for it and I'll have fun." Phelps admitted he had been "lazy" in recent years, culminating in a series of shock losses. But Phelps and his coach Bob Bowman both said training was going well despite condensing a year's work into the past nine months.
Elsewhere, soaring temperatures prompted angry complaints and a swathe of withdrawals from the gruelling 25km marathon swim, which is in the safety spotlight after the death of a top athlete. More than 20 swimmers did not finish the race and some were carried away on stretchers as water temperatures hit 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 Fahrenheit), above the limit considered safe by America's open water commission. "I just want to have a rest, waiting for some water and ice," said Bulgaria's Petar Stoychev, who won the men's race in 5hr 10min 39.8sec.
Last year, American Olympic bronze medallist Fran Crippen died during a 10km race held in hot conditions in United Arab Emirates, a tragedy that rocked the sport and prompted a wide-ranging safety crackdown. Nearly half the men's field did not finish, while six women also pulled out. Brazil's Ana Marcela Cunha won the women's race from Angela Maurer of Germany. In synchronised swimming, Russia completed a magnificent run of seven out of seven titles as they won the team free routine, led by "synchro queen" Natalia Ishchenko - who finished with a personal haul of six gold medals.
Medals table World championships medals table after the eighth day of competition on Saturday:
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Gold Silver Bronze Total
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China 9 10 1 20
Russia 7 3 3 13
Germany 1 3 3 7
Greece 1 1 1 3
United States 1 0 1 2
Brazil 1 0 0 1
Britain 1 0 0 1
Bulgaria 1 0 0 1
Switzerland 1 0 0 1
Australia 0 2 1 3
Spain 0 1 5 6
Canada 0 1 2 3
Italy 0 1 2 3
France 0 1 0 1
Mexico 0 0 2 2
Hungary 0 0 1 1
Ukraine 0 0 1 1
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