Rousseau men's 10m platform title in Aquatics Championships

Australia's Cassiel Rousseau claimed the men's 10m platform title on Saturday to stop China from a clean sweep of all diving gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships, reported Xinhua.

China, who has won all other 12 diving events, still managed to secure the silver and bronze.

Rousseau, who was fourth in last year's Budapest worlds, pulled ahead after the fifth dive when previous round leader Lian Junjie's poor execution of 207B - back 3.5 somersaults pike - earned only 70.20 points.

Before the final round, Rousseau had built a lead of 1.05 points over second-placed Kyle Kothari of Britain. Lian was third with 8.50 points adrift.

In the final round, Rousseau and Lian, who uncorked the same dive, both earned 98.05 points, which was enough for Rousseau to seal the victory with a total of 520.85 points.

Lian took silver in 512.35 and his Chinese teammate Yang Hao finished third in 504.00. Kothari dropped to the fifth after he faltered in the last dive.

"I knew that I was going to come in first place before that final dive," said a jubilant Rousseau. "Rather than being nervous, I was just excited by the realization of the fact that I actually had the possibility of taking the gold medal."

"All my training up until this point has led me to this moment of overwhelming triumph. To completely fulfill the potential that was granted to me by that final dive was absolutely incredible."

Lian, twice world champion in the 10m synchronized platform, praised Rousseau's performance as "excellent" and also admitted he failed to "perform well".

"This 10m platform diving is always highly competitive, so I felt slightly pressured," he said. "My next goal is, more than anything, the Olympic Games in Paris next year. I want to do better in the Olympics."