China began paving its path to Beijing with gold on Sunday, capturing both of the diving gold medals on offer on the opening day of the 11th World Swimming Championships.
Two tiny teenagers launched China's campaign for a big gold medal haul in Montreal as Jia Tong, 15, teamed with 14-year-old Yuan Pei Lin - in her first international competition - to win the women's 10m platform synchronised title.
Wang Feng and He Chong then made it a Chinese double with a victory in the men's 3m springboard synchronised event.
Jia and Yuan, whose youth augurs well for China's fortunes when Beijing hosts the 2008 Olympics, seemed slightly overwhelmed by the attention their victory drew.
But they showed no sign of nerves on the imposing 10m platform, leading every round en route to a victory with 351.60 points.
Their final twisting dive was their least polished of the five-round final, but by then they were uncatchable.
Australia's 10m platform individual gold medallist Chantelle Newbery claimed silver with partner Loudy Tourky, while Canada's Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion delighted a cheerfully partisan crowd by snatching the bronze.
Swimming races begin next week.
MEN'S 5KM:
1. Thomas Lurz (GER) 51min 17.2sec - gold medal
2. Chip Peterson (USA) 51:18.8 - silver medal
3. Simone Ercoli (ITA) 51:18.9 - bronze medal
4. Samuele Pampana (ITA) 51:37.5, 5. Alan Bircher (GBR) 51:37.6, 6. Daniil Serebrennikov (RUS) 51:39.2, 7. Toni Franz (GER) 51:43.0, 8. Evgeny Drattsev (RUS) 51:54.5, 9. Diego Nogueira (ESP) 51:56.1, 10. Ky Hurst (AUS) 51:57.7, 11. Jarrod Ballem (CAN) 51:59.7, 12. Elliot Rushton (CAN) 52:01.4, 13. Guilherme Bier (BRA) 52:02.8, 14. Jakub Fichtl (CZE) 52:03.6, 15. Carlos Pavao (BRA) 52:03.9, 16. Josh Santacaterina (AUS) 52:05.2, 17. Petar Stoychev (BUL) 52:06.4, 18. Csaba Gercsak (HUN) 52:10.8, 19. Scott Kaufmann (USA) 52:11.3, 20. Rostislav Vitek (CZE) 52:12.5
21. Shaun Dias (RSA) 52:13.4, 22. Mohamed Serour (EGY) 52:39.5, 23. Jordi Jou (ESP) 53:08.3, 24. Roberto Quiroga (ARG) 54:49.4, 25. Kurt Niehaus (CRC) 54:50.0, 26. Stjepan Pticar (CRO) 55:00.4, 27. Rolando Salas (VEN) 55:00.7, 28. Santiago Enderica Salgado (ECU) 57:14.0, 29. Kenneth Smith (RSA) 57:15.9, 30. Johndry Segovia (VEN) 57:18.0, 31. Gabriel Enderica Ochoa (ECU) 57:19.1
WOMEN'S 5KM:
1. Larisa Ilchenko (RUS) 55min 40.1sec - gold medal
2. Margy Keefe (USA) 55:44.3 - silver medal
3. Edith Dijk (NED) 55:46.6 - bronze medal
4. Sara McLarty (USA) 55:56.1, 5. Jana Pechanova (CZE) 56:18.3, 6. Britta Kamrau (GER) 56:18.3, 7. Tanya Hunks (CAN) 56:18.7, 8. Ksenia Popova (RUS) 56:20.4, 9. Yurema Requena (ESP) 56:20.6, 10. Alessia Paoloni (ITA) 56:21.1, 11. Lauren Arndt (AUS) 56:22.8, 12. Xenia Lopez (ESP) 56:22.8, 13. Eva Crestacci (ITA) 56:23.0, 14. Karley Stutzel (CAN) 56:24.3, 15. Ivanka Moralieva (BUL) 56:31.1, 16. Kate Brookes-Peterson (AUS) 56:41.0, 17. Klaudia Barsi (HUN) 57:18.9, 18. Floriane Richard (FRA) 57:26.6, 19. Johanna Manz (GER) 57:57.4, 20. Nataly Caldas Calle (ECU) 59:09.5
21. Pamela Engel (BRA) 1:00:21.1, 22. Oriana Galindo (VEN) 1:00:30.1, 23. Anja Trisic (CRO) 1:01:54.6, 24. Michelle Santiago (VEN) 1:02:19.5, 25. Bruna Cavalcante (BRA) 1:02:21.5, 26. Franka Gruja (CRO) 1:04.43.6, Paola Abad Guzaman (ECU) DNF
FINAL:
1. Wang Feng/He Chong (CHN) 384.42pts - gold medal
2. Tobias Schellenberg/Andreas Wels (GER) 364.59 - silver medal
3. Justin Duamis/Troy Dumais (USA) 360.27 - bronze medal
4. Steven Barnett/Robert Newbery (AUS) 357.03, 5. Erik Alvarez/Jorge Garcia (CUB) 339.96, 6. Luis Villarroel/Ramon Fumado (VEN) 334.20, 7. Nicola Marconi/Tommaso Marconi (ITA) 325.77, 8. Cassius Duran/Cesar Castro (BRA) 324.57, 9. Javier Illana/Carlos Calvo (ESP) 313.20, 10. Aliaksandr Verlamau/Siarhei Kuchmasau (BLR) 311.94, 11. Ioannis Gavriilidis/Alexandros Manos (GRE) 305.37, 12. Luis Huerta/Jorge Martinez (MEX) 297.57
Preliminaries (12 qualifiers for final)
1. Wang Feng/He Chong (CHN) 350.79 pts, 2. Justin Duamis/Troy Dumais 350.70, 3. Steven Barnett/Robert Newbery (AUS) 333.57, 4. Nicola Marconi/Tommaso Marconi (ITA) 322.02, 5. Erik Alvarez/Jorge Garcia (CUB) 321.33, 6. Tobias Schellenberg/Andreas Wels (GER) 318.66, 7. Luis Huerta/Jorge Martinez (MEX) 311.97, 8. Luis Villarroel/Ramon Fumado (VEN) 310.62, 9. Javier Illana/Carlos Calvo (ESP) 309.60, 10. Cassius Duran/Cesar Castro (BRA) 308.19, 11. Ioannis Gavriilidis/Alexandros Manos (GRE) 290.91, 12. Aliaksandr Verlamau/Siarhei Kuchmasau (BLR) 285.48
FINALS:
1. Jia Tong/Yuan Pei Lin (CHN) 351.60pts - gold medal
2. Loudy Tourky/Chantelle Newbery (AUS) 334.89 - silver medal
3. Roseline Filion/Meaghan Benfeito (CAN) 328.80 - bronze medal
4. Annett Gamm/Nora Subschinski (GER) 321.12, 5. Cassandra Cardinell/Laura Ann Wilkinson (USA) 318.66, 6. Paola Espinosa/Jashia Luna (MEX) 308.46, 7. Marion Reiff/Anja Richter (AUT) 301.68, 8. Natalia Goncharova/Yulia Koltunova (RUS) 300.72, 9. Mai Nakagawa/Misako Yamashita (JPN) 290.16, 10. Claire Blencowe/Tonia Couch (GBR) 287.19, 11. Brenda Spaziani/Valentina Marocchi (ITA) 276.36, 12. Amelia Shenny Ratna/Sari Ambarwati (INA) 238.86
Preliminaries (all 12 qualify for final)
1. Jia Tong/Yuan Pei Lin (CHN) 331.86pts, 2. Loudy Tourky/Chantelle Newbery (AUS) 321.30, 3. Cassandra Cardinell/Laura Ann Wilkinson (USA) 319.44, 4. Annett Gamm/Nora Subschinski (GER) 298.38, 5. Paola Espinosa/Jashia Luna (MEX) 293.25, 6. Mai Nakagawa/Misako Yamashita (JPN) 284.76, 7. Roseline Filion/Meaghan Benfeito (CAN) 284.25, 8. Brenda Spaziani/Valentina Marocchi (ITA) 283.32, 9. Marion Reiff/Anja Richter (AUT) 279.72, 10. Natalia Goncharova/Yulia Koltunova (RUS) 264.84, 11. Amelia Shenny Ratna/Sari Ambarwati (INA) 260.52, 12. Claire Blencowe/Tonia Couch (GBR) 259.29
SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING:
Duet (qualifiers for final after technical and preliminary free routines)
1. Anastasia Davydova/Anastasia Ermakova (RUS) 98.750 pts, 2. Saho Harada/emiko Suzuki (JPN) 97.001, 3. Gemma Mengual/Paola Tirados (ESP) 97.000, 4. Gu Beibei/Zhang Xiaohuan (CHN) 94.417, 5. Sara Lowe/Stephanie Nesbitt 94.251, 6. Nicole Cargill/Courtenay Stewart (CAN) 93.917, 7. Joey Paccagnella/Lorena Zaffalon (ITA) 93.168, 8. Eleftheria Ftouli/Evantia Makrygianni 91.750, 9. Saloma Lafay/Lila Meesseman-Bakir 90.084, 10. Bianca Van der Velden/Sonja Van der Velden (NED) 90.001, 10. Kim Min Jeong/Yoo Na Mi (KOR) 90.001, 12. Kseniya Sydorenko/Daria Yushko 89.168
GROUP A:
Venezuela 6 Cuba 6
Canada 8 Italy 7
GROUP:
China 4 Hungary 18
Spain 6 USA 6
GROUP C:
Russia 18 Uzbekistan 0
Greece 9 New Zealand 4
GROUP D:
Australia 15 Germany 2
Brazil 6 Netherlands 7.