World diving powerhouse China won all four gold medals on off on the first day of finals at the 2016 FINA Gold Coast diving Grand Prix, but the home nation did not go home empty handed with Olympian Kevin Chavez winning springboard silver.

Chavez, who was only naturalised to compete for Australia on the eve of the Olympics, finished second behind China’s Jianfeng Peng. Chavez won his first ever medal for Australia, a springboard bronze, one week earlier at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Peng scored 490.90 on Saturday, while Chavez finished on 423.85 – narrowly ahead of bronze medallist, USA’s Jordan Windle, on 419.40.

China’s Jie Lian was a convincing winner in the women’s platform final, posting a score of 346.55 to finish ahead of USA’s Tarrin Gilliland on 299.20.

Another Chinese diver, Bingqing Xia, took home the bronze with a score of 282.25. Australian Olympian Brittany O’Brien was a close fourth on 278.25, while Taneka Kovchenko was sixth on 221.15.

Earlier Chinese divers dominated the first of the synchronised events, winning gold in both the men’s 3-metre and the women’s 10-metre platform finals.

Bowen Huang and Siyi Xie finished more than 60 points ahead of their nearest rivals in the men’s 3-metre synchro, posting a score of 409.92 in perfect conditions at the outdoor Gold Coast pool.

Singapore twin brothers Mark and Timothy Lee won silver with a score of 342.09.

The scores were much closer in the women’s platform final, with China’s platform bronze medallist, Bingqing Xia, teaming up with Yujie Xia to win gold with 278.73.

Americans Delaney Schnell and Tarrin Gilliland won silver with 258.84.

The final day of competition on Sunday will see the finals of the men’s platform and women’s 3-metre synchro events, and the women’s 3-metre and men’s platform individual events.

Photography by Fiona Carter