As is so often the case in diving, the women's synchronized 10m platform competition was a race for silver behind China.
The winners: Jessica Parratto and Delaney Schnell, who won the first medals for the U.S. in this event, which has been in the Games since 2000.
China's Chen Yuxi and Zhang Jiaqi were, as expected, perfection in motion. China has never lost in this event.
Round 4 (out of five) changed the course of the competition. Canada's Meaghan Benfeito and Caeli McKay threw themselves out of medal contention with a rough landing on their back 3 1/2-somersault tuck attempt. The Malaysian pair that was third after the second dive fared poorly on the third and fourth dives.
Parratto and Schnell, though, held their nerve. Then they flat-out nailed their fifth and final dive, on which every pair did a back 2 1/2-somersault pike with 1 1/2 twists.
Mexico's Gabriela Agundez and Alejandra Orozco stayed steady through their dives to move up from seventh after the second dive up to bronze.
Parratto has been here before, placing seventh in Rio with then-partner Amy Magana (then known as Amy Cozad). Schnell, making her first appearance in the Games, was the first U.S. woman to win a world championship medal on the the individual platform since Laura Wilkinson's 2005 world title when she took third place in 2019. She'll also compete in the individual platform event next week.
Eric Goodman contributed to this report.
