China's Si Yajie leads another round in women's platform

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) Si Yajie established herself as China's latest gold-medal favorite at the diving pool, leading another round in the women's 10-meter platform Thursday.

The 17-year-old totaled 389.30 points over five dives in the semifinals, not far off her top score in the preliminaries.

The scores do not carry over to the afternoon final, but Si earned the favorable last spot in the order to go for China's sixth gold in seven diving events at Rio.

Jessica Parratto of the United States posted the second-highest score at 367.00, followed by 15-year-old Ren Qian of China with 362.40.

The U.S. has not won a medal in this event since Laura Wilkinson captured gold at the 2000 Sydney Games.

The top 12 moved on to the final. Katrina Young of the U.S. finished 13th, missing a spot in the final by just 5.0.

Two-time defending gold medalist Chen Ruolin was selected to compete at these games only in the 10-meter synchronized event, where she won the fifth gold medal of her career.

China picked a pair of younger divers for their individual spots on the tower. So far, that decision is paying off.

Pandelela Rinong Pamg, the bronze medalist four years ago, advanced to the final in sixth place. She will be trying to become the first Malaysian in any sport to win three Olympic medals, having already captured silver in the synchro 10-meter event at Rio.