Wilkinson Earns Gold in Platform

Laura Wilkinson kept on smiling, even when she faltered along with the rest of the leaders. She figured her one early mistake had cost her a medal, so fun became her priority.

In the end, she really had something to grin about.

Wilkinson won the platform diving competition in the World Swimming Championships on Wednesday, giving the United States its second gold medal of the day.

Chip Peterson won the 10-kilometer open-water swimming race for the first American gold.

“I really didn’t think I could come back strong enough, so I was just having a blast up there trying to do my dives as best that I could,” said Wilkinson, who had wrist surgery six months ago.

Wilkinson, the 2000 Olympic platform champion, finished with 564.87 points.

Loudy Tourky of Australia earned the silver medal with 551.25 points, and Jia Tong of China won the bronze with 550.98.

Canada, China, Russia and the United States were tied atop the medal standings with two golds each after four days. The U.S. led with six medals overall.

Wilkinson had one major gaffe in the final. Her feet smacked the water on her second dive, dropping her from first place to fifth. But she climbed back into third on her next dive and took the lead for good on her fourth.

Wilkinson, Tourky and Jia did the same fifth and final dive, a backward 2 1/2 somersault with a 1 1/2 twist. Jia scored the highest, but Wilkinson’s marks ranging from 9.5 to 9.9 kept her in front.

Peterson, 17, won the 10K open-water race by 7.1 seconds over 5K gold medalist Thomas Lurz of Germany.

“It’s the greatest moment of my career,” Peterson said. “It was really difficult, especially to extract from the pack. My tactic was to sprint at the end. My coach told me I can do it, but I was not sure before the race.”

Peterson, who was second to Lurz in the 5K on Sunday, won in 1 hour 46 minutes 38.1 seconds. Lurz finished in 1:46.45.2. Petar Stoychev of Bulgaria was third in 1:46.50.4.

Edith Van Dijk, 31, of the Netherlands won the women’s 10K race in 1:56.00.5. She had won the bronze in the 5K race Sunday, giving her 13 medals in seven world championships.

The U.S. defeated Cuba, 13-6, in a men’s water polo game behind five goals by Tony Azevedo and four by Jeff Powers.