Chinese Huang Xuechen finished second after Beijing Olympic champion Natalia Ishchenko of Russia in synchronized technical solo preliminary at the Shanghai swimming worlds on Sunday.

In the first half of the 34-athlete preliminary round, Huang performed with her passion and elegance in two minutes and five seconds, collecting 47.700 points for the technical element and a leading total of 95.500.

However, Natalia, a winning member of the team events at the Beijing Olympics, outscored Huang with a highest 97.900 later. Andrea Fuentes of Spain finished third with 94.600.

The top three, with the other nine followed, advanced to the 12-berth final on Sunday night.