When Russian diver Gleb Galperin leapt from the 10m platform at the Melbourne Aquatic Centre on Tuesday he endured a disastrous embarrassment as his partner in the synchronised event stood still.

Galperin returned on Sunday to put things right - on his own.

He triumphed in one of the highest quality international diving events in the sport's history, winning the 10m platform gold medal at the FINA World Championships.

In a competition that became a contest to determine who would make the first splash, Galperin produced a series of immaculate dives that took him from two points behind with three of the six rounds to go, to win by 35 points.

Galperin's solo performance was in contrast to the debacle of last week when he and partner Alexander Dobroskok seemingly had the synchronised event in their grasp after three rounds.

But an inexplicable series of events dropped them to last place - and placed serious pressure on their friendship.

As Galperin and Dobroskok stood together on the platform to perform their fourth dive, a reverse 3 1/2 somersault, they had control of the competition.

But in a display that was anything but synchronised, Dobroskok bounced once then stopped and looked over at Galperin just as the latter launched.

They climbed out of the water and went their separate ways without speaking - and did much the same again on their sixth and final dive.

In the final, an unencumbered Galperin withstood the pressure better than early leader Lin Yue of China.

Along with his compatriot Zhouo Luxin, Lin had barely sent a ripple around the pool with his early attempts.

But Galperin produced two immaculate dives that each earned him 10 points from all of the eight judges to put the issue beyond doubt.

Zhou coped with the pressure better than Lin to take second place, also producing a perfect 10 along the way.

In the women's three metre springboard, China's Guo Jingjing claimed the gold medal narrowly from another Chinese diver, Wu Minxia.

Italy's Tania Cagnotto was third.

Australia's only representative in either of Sunday's finals, Bree Cole of Victoria finished last of 12.

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