Olympics | Day 11: Sensational Quan retains diving title, multiple new records created

Gold medalist Quan Hongchan of China celebrates during the award ceremony after the women's 10m platform final of diving at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Saint-Denis, France, Aug. 6, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Peng)

China's diving sensation Quan Hongchan led from start to win her second consecutive Olympic gold medal in the women's 10m platform while defending champions the Netherlands set their second world record to win gold in cycling men's sprint team event at Paris 2024.

PARIS, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- China's diving sensation Quan Hongchan led from start to win her second consecutive Olympic gold medal in the women's 10m platform at Paris 2024 here on Tuesday, while multiple new records in athletics, cycling, and sport climbing illustrated the Olympic motto of "Faster."

Quan, 17, scored a total of 425.60 points and ranked first for four out of the five dives, with only her third-round dive ranking second among the 12 finalists. She earned a full mark of 90 points for her first dive.

"I'm extremely happy for the victory," said Quan, who shed tears while hugging her coach, former Olympic champion Chen Ruolin, after her final dive. "The past three years were really tough for me, and I could hardly describe how hard it was here in just a few minutes."

Her Chinese teammate Chen Yuxi took silver in a repeat of the podium finish from Tokyo 2020 on 420.70 points. Kim Mi Rae of DPR Korea took the bronze medal in 372.10.

This is Quan's second gold in Paris, after she had paired up with Chen to win the synchronized 10m platform event last Wednesday. China's diving team has taken all five golds at the Games so far, with three more to go.

Elsewhere in Tahiti, the Olympic surfing competition reached its final day of action after a three-day pause due to a lack of wave conditions. French surfer and Tahiti native Kauli Vaast surfed to victory in the men's final, while Caroline Marks improved from her fourth place in the Tokyo 2020 to continue the U.S. monopoly on the women's Olympic title.

Jeffrey Hoogland of the Netherlands celebrates after winning the cycling track men's team sprint finals for gold at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, Aug. 6, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

"Faster" has been a key word of the day in several events, as defending champions the Netherlands set their second world record on Tuesday night to win gold in cycling men's sprint team event, beating Britain in the final.

The Netherlands' Roy van den Berg, Harrie Lavreysen and Jeffrey Hoogland completed the three circuits of the 250-meter track in 40.949 seconds - the first time anyone has ever broken 41 seconds.

Australia also set a new world record of three minutes, 40.73 seconds in the cycling track men's team pursuit qualifying round, racing off against Britain in Wednesday's final at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome.

Meanwhile, New Zealand's quartet produced a surprise when they qualified with the fastest time in the women's cycling team pursuit on Tuesday with a new national record of 4:04.679.

In sport climbing, Sam Watson of the United States initially clocked 4.91 seconds in his seeding phase, improving his world record from 4.79 seconds to a new high of 4.75 during the elimination heat. This achievement marks the third time this year that the 18-year-old American has broken the men's speed world record. He previously set two records at a World Cup meet in China in April.

"I want to push times and get under 4.5 seconds. I want to be the best athlete and keep pushing the limits. That's always the person I've been and always the person I'll be in this sport," Watson said after the qualifying round.

China's Wu Peng also earned a place in Tuesday's final round of the speed event with a time of 5.00 seconds in the elimination stage.

The Stade de France saw two new Olympic records on Tuesday night, with the U.S.'s Cole Hocker producing a barnstorming finish to clinch the men's 1,500m title in three minutes, 27.65 seconds, beating the previous Olympic record of 3:28.32 set by Norway's Jakob Ingebrigsten at the Tokyo Games three years ago.

Winfred Yavi of Bahrain celebrates after the women's 3000m steeplechase final of Athletics at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, Aug. 6, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Ying)

Bahrain's Winfred Yavi seized gold in the women's 3,000m steeplechase in eight minutes, 52.76 seconds, eclipsing the previous Games record of 8:58.81 set by Russia's Gulnara Samitova-Galkina at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

As the canoe sprint events began on Tuesday, China's Xu Shixiao and Sun Mengya, who took the women's canoe double 500m title at the Tokyo Olympics, cruised into the event's semifinal at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium. In the men's canoe double 500m, China's Liu Hao and Ji Bowen finished in an Olympic best of 1:37.40 to sail into the semifinals.

Defending champions China swept past India 3-0 to advance to the table tennis men's team quarterfinals, with five-time Olympic gold medalist Ma Long making his fourth Olympic appearance, while Japan's men's team outclassed Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals.

In volleyball, Turkey beat China in a five-set thriller as Melissa Teresa Vargas scored 42 points to lead her side to a hard-fought 23-25, 25-21, 26-24, 21-25, 15-12 victory. Defending champions the United States swept past Poland 3-0 later to join Türkiye, Italy and Brazil in the women's volleyball semifinals.

Cuba's Mijain Lopez Nunez made history with his gold medal in the men's Greco-Roman wrestling 130kg final after defeating Chile's Yasmani Acosta Fernandez by a score of 6-0, becoming the first person to take five Olympic gold medals in the same event.

After Day 11 of competition in Paris, the United States top the medal tally with 24 golds, 31 silvers and 31 bronzes, followed by China on 22-21-16 and Australia on 14-12-9.