PARIS - Chinese athletes finished Wednesday's diving events in pole position as Jonathan Ruvalcaba became the first Dominican to make qualify for an Olympic final.

China's Chen Yiwen faced little competition in taking top spot in the women's 3-metre springboard preliminary round, after delivering five immaculate dives.

Australia's Madison Keeney, however, finished off strongly on the most difficult dive in the preliminaries - forward two and a half somersaults, piked, with two twists - to score a competition high 81.60 points and take second place.

Chen's teammate Chang Yani, who won the synchronised 3-metre event with her last week, had a problematic second dive which resulted in only 38.75 points.

She regained ground in the following dives but failed to get higher than fourth.

American Alison Gibson suffered a failed first dive as her foot struck the board, resulting in a zero score.

The audience gasped at the clash that came with a loud bang but Gibson came out of the water unscathed and finished her remaining dives.

Earlier, 22-year-old Wang Zongyuan ranked first in the men's 3-metre springboard semi-final, followed by his teammate Xie Siyi, the defending champion.

The duo will face strong competition from Britain's Jack Laugher and Mexican Osmar Olvera in Thursday's final after they were third and fourth in the semi.

"I'm overall very happy about performance, and there's still loads left in the tank for tomorrow," Laugher, 29, told reporters.

"I am obviously in admiration of how good they (the Chinese) are, but I know that if I turn up and I do everything as good as I can, then I've got a shot at trying to beat," said the four-times Olympian who won gold in the synchronised 3-metre event and silver in the individual at the Rio Games in 2016.

Ruvalcaba secured the last fin...