Qiu surges into platform final ahead of Lin

Qiu Bo powered into the final of the men's 10m platform as the gold medal favourite with another diving masterclass in the semi-finals of the Olympic event on Saturday. Qiu finished 21.75 points ahead of his Chinese teammate Lin Yue to head the 12 qualifiers into Saturday night's final with a six-round total of 563.55 points. Just as he did in Friday's prelims, 19-year-old Qiu, the 2011 FINA male driver of the year, dominated the competition with three dives in the 90s and a super back three and a half somersault that netted him 102.60 on his fourth dive. The dual world champion is bidding to duplicate China's seven golds from eight events from the last Beijing Games. The only dent in China's dominance so far in London was Russian Ilya Zakharov's triumph in Tuesday's men's 3m springboard ahead of both Qin Kai and defending champion He Chong, which ended China's hopes of sweeping all eight golds. Lin also registered 102.60 for his back three and a half somersault on his way to the second-best total of 541.80. American David Boudia was the third qualifier (531.15) ahead of the home crowd's unabashed favourite Britain's Tom Daley (521.10). The 18-year-old former world champion was much improved on his prelim form, reeling off a best of 91.80 for a back three and a half somersault on his penultimate dive. But defending champion Matthew Mitcham of Australia missed the top-12 cut with a disappointing back two and a half somersault with two and a half twists proving his undoing on his final dive. German Martin Wolfram was fifth with 519.00 ahead of Victor Minibaev of Russia 514.15.