Blythe Hartley grabbed some gold for host nation Canada on Monday, winning the women's 1m springboard diving title at the 11th World Swimming Championships. China's Wu Min Xia took the silver, ahead of Germany's Heike Fischer.
Hartley, the 1m world champion in 2001 at Fukuoka and bronze medallist at the 2003 worlds in Barcelona, led every step of the way, sending fans at the diving pool in the aquatic complex of Ile Sainte-Helene into a frenzy of excitement as she led or shared the lead after each of the final five dives.
Wu, who won a 3m synchronised diving gold in Atlanta as well as synchronised world titles in 2001 and 2003, had to fight her way up to silver.
Fischer, who matched Hartley for the lead after the first dive of the final, was second after each of the next two rounds before Wu overtook her on the fourth dive, when both performed a reverse one-and-a-half in the pike position.
Heading into the final round, in which all three performed a reverse twisting one-and-a-half, Hartley led by nearly 20 points, lifting the title with a total of 325.65.
Wu finished with 299.70 points, with Fischer totalling 299.46.
Despite her previous accomplishments, which also included 1m springboard world championship bronze in Barcelona and a 10m synchronised bronze with Emilie Heymans in Athens, it was Montreal-area divers Heymans and Alexandre Despatie who were tipped as the divers most likely to emerge as the darlings of local fans.
When they get their chance later in the week, they will now be buoyed by Hartley's proof that Chinese divers are not after all unbeatable.
The Chinese charge started on Sunday with men's synchronised springboard gold for He Chong and Wang Feng, along with women's synchronised platform gold for teenagers Jia Tong and Yuan Pei Lin.
After competition opened on Sunday with four medal events, the 1m springboard medals were the only ones on offer on the second day of the 15-day aquatic festival.
Preliminaries got underway in men's water polo, and team competition opened in synchronised swimming.
Russia, which swept the synchronised swimming gold at the Athens Games, wasted no time in taking charge in the team event, posting the top score in the technical routine ahead of Athens silver medallists Japan and Spain.
In water polo, defending world and Olympic champions Hungary opened their campaign with a 14-4 victory over Romania.
Serbia-Montenegro, who lost an 8-7 heartbreaker to Hungary in the Olympic final in Athens, launched their bid for retribution with a 21-1 rout of Cuba.
Medals table
MONTREAL: Medals table at the 11th World Swimming Championships after Monday's events:
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Gold Silver Bronze Total
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China 2 1 0 3
Germany 1 1 1 3
Canada 1 0 1 2
Russia 1 0 0 1
United States 0 2 1 3
Australia 0 1 0 1
Italy 0 0 1 1
Netherlands 0 0 1 1
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