ESSEN, Germany, July 19 (Xinhua) -- China saw its first gold in swimming and added a diving title on Saturday, while Team USA collected four swimming golds to lead the medal table at the FISU World University Games.
Ai Yanhan earned China's first gold from the swimming pool in women's 100m freestyle with a time of 54.00 seconds. France's Lison Nowaczyk was second trailing by 0.23 seconds and American Maxine Charlize Parker third lagging the winner by 0.30 seconds.
"The win was a surprise for me," said Ai. "The result matched my personal best. It is a reassurance of my training from the last few years. I enjoyed this competition and it's been great."
Chinese divers finished one-two in the men's platform with Zheng Junzhi scoring 455.10 points, 6.40 more than teammate Mo Yonghua. South Korea's Kim Yeong-taek was third, 20.70 points behind the winner.
Team USA dominated swimming, earning four more golds from the pool. Jacob Ryan Mitchell finished first in the men's 200m freestyle clocking 1:46.22, 0.55 seconds better than individual neutral athlete Nikolai Kolesnikov and 0.59 seconds ahead of his teammate Baylor William Nelson. Emma Lebron Weber was the winner in women's 50m breaststroke in 30.67 seconds, beating South Africa's Lara Van Niekerk by 0.07 seconds and Poland's Barbara Anna Mazurkiewicz by 0.15 seconds. Mila Ilinishna Nikanorov clinched the women's 800m freestyle title in 8:27.61, followed by Portugal's Francisca Soares Martins (+3.15s) and Japan's Ruka Takezawa (+3.34s).
"I count down the laps when I swim. Just having that in my head as a mantra is really helpful in an 800m," said Nikanorov.
"Definitely to build throughout the race. My coach and I have just been working on building through because I usually go out pretty fast. I am really glad I was able to do that and be calm at the beginning of the race and then flip the end."
USA had the fourth gold from mixed 4X100m medley relay in 3:44.40, followed by Poland (+2.74s) and South Africa (+3.94).
Japan pulled off its first swimming gold as Takumi Mori won the men's 200m medley in 1:57.24. American Mitchell Hancock Schott was second trailing by 1.01s and Mori's teammate Yuta Watanabe finished third, 1.30 seconds adrift of the leader.
Host Germany won the mixed team to see their second diving gold in 437.10 points, followed by China's 429.10 and South Korea's 400.10.
Elsewhere, South Korea's Jeon Ha-young overcame Hungary's Anna Spiesz 15-7 to win the women's sabre, which is the country's second fencing gold after Park Sang-won won the men's sabre, also beating a Hungarian athlete on Thursday. Chirika Takahashi of Japan and Summer Fay Sit from Hongkong, China settled for bronze.
Men's foil title went to Italy's Damiano Di Veroli, who defeated Poland's Jan Hieromin Nowak 15-12. Another Italian Tommaso Martini and South Korea's Choi Min-seo took the bronze medal. This is Italy's second gold from fencing after Italy's Aurora Grandis rallied to overtake South Korean Mo Byeo-li in the women's foil on Friday.
"This is my first time [at a Universiade] and to win on my first time, in the individual competition, it's amazing. I can't want anything else - maybe another gold in the team competition," said Di Veroli.
Four taekwondo golds were available on Saturday. Thailand's Bunlung, the reigning Asian Games champion, beat China's Olympic bronze medalist Liang Yushuai to win the men's 68kg.
Maria Clara Lima Pacheco overpowered Chaima Toumi of Tunisia in women's 57kg to earn Brazil's first gold medal. Canada's Nithan Brindamohan out-performed U.S. player Youngsuk Ethan Gun to win men's 54kg.
South Korea's Kim Yun-seo upset Huang Ying-hsuan to clinch the women's 46kg title. This is South Korea's third gold on taekwondo as they had collected titles in the men's team poomsae and individual poomsae by Oh Min-hyeok in the previous two days.
Six gold medals were decided in rhythmic gymnastics as two of them went to Uzbekistan. Takhmina Ikromova, the 2022 Asian Games all-around and team gold medalist, was a double winner here in hoop and ribbon. German Olympian Margarita Kolosov, the world silver medalist, contributed the host country's fourth gold in the Games by claiming the ball event. Azerbaijan saw its second gold in the sport from group five ribbons after securing group all-around a day earlier.
Ukraine obtained its first old in the Games from group three balls and two hoops. The remaining clubs title was captured by individual neutral athlete Alina Harnasko.
The top three remains unchanged in the medal tally after Day 3. Team USA led the table with nine gold, six silver and 11 bronze medals, followed by South Korea (5-4-6) and China (4-7-3). ■
