Chinese divers Wu Minxia and He Zi are on track to win the first gold at the FINA Swimming World Championships as they finished first in the women's 3m springboard synchronized preliminary in Shanghai on Saturday.

Two-time Olympic champion in the event Wu and her young partner He collected 324.90 points to lead the competition, while Ukraine's pair Anna Pysmenska and Olena Fedorova took the second in 291.90. Francesca Dallape and Tania Cagnotto of Italy were the third in 288.30.

"My performance is generally well this morning and some minor faults are inevitable. Hoping we can perform well in the final," said the 25-year-old Wu, who had won four titles in previous World Championships.

"We will not push ourselves too much and we'll perform a new routine. We've practiced this routine since the rules changed," she said. "The wind was strong these days and we’ve got used to it. We tried our best to perform well."

Wu paired up with the 20-year-old He after "diving queen" Guo Jingjing's retirement.

He was injured during the training a few days before the Shanghai Worlds but she said she was OK now.

"I have recovered well from the injury. It has no influence on my perfomance. Hope I can do better in final."

The women's 3m springboard synchro final will be held later Saturday.