Keeney, Bedggood win as Aussies seal best diving worlds

Maddison Keeney and Domonic Bedggood have won the mixed 3m springboard gold, completing Australia's best-ever week of world championship diving in Doha.

The experienced combination of Brisbane's Keeney, winning her third world gold, and Gold Coast's Bedggood achieved victory with a nicely executed final dive - the most difficult attempted by any pair in the final - to win Australia's second diving gold at the world aquatics championship on Saturday.

That pressurised fifth and last attempt - a pike, forward two-and-a-half somersaults with two twists - proved the best of the final round, stretching out the lead they'd held since the second round and ensuring they upgraded the silver they won at the championships in Fukuoka last year.

Taking advantage of a rare event the all-conquering Chinese team decided to spurn, the Aussies tallied 300.93 points, 13.44pts clear of Italian silver medallists Chiara Pellacani and Matteo Santoro, and 15.90 ahead of South Korea's bronze winners, Kim Suji and Yi Jaegyeong.

After the final day in the diving pool, it meant the Australian team ended with two golds - Alysha Koloi took the other in the women's 1m springboard - two silvers and a bronze.

It was a five-medal haul that even bettered the last time they enjoyed two golds in a single championships, back in Barcelona 21 years ago when Irina Lashko won the 1m springboard and Matthew Helm and Robert Newbery took the 10m synchro.

For 27-year-old Keeney, it completed another terrific championship as she ended the week with a complete set of medals - gold in the mixed 3m synchro, silver in the women's 3m springboard synchro with Anabelle Smith and bronze in the mixed 3m/10m team event.

She also finished fourth in the women's 3m springboard as she took her overall tally of world championship medals to eight, a haul that now includes three golds after her victories in the 1m springboard in 2017 and the mixed 3m springboard synchro with Matthew Carter in 2019.

In the final diving event of the week, the great Yang Hao won the 10m platform - his sixth career gold at worlds - with China able to celebrate their ninth gold medal of the diving programme.

After the conclusion of the artistic swimming, diving and open water programmes, before the start of the main swimming programme on Sunday, China topped the overall aquatics medal table at the championships with a remarkable 16 golds out of a possible total of 29.

Australia were second on the medal table with three golds - the two diving wins and an open water swimming relay gold - three silvers and one bronze.