London 2012 Diving: Qiu Bo surges into platform final ahead of Lin Yue

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 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.

"I slept straight away after Friday night's prelims and got plenty of rest," Qiu said.

"The medal is not so important. I just want to do my best."

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.

"I feel better today. I'm getting better, round after round," Lin said. "I'm desperate for gold. I'll really try my best and fight for it."

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.

"That's diving for you, anything can happen," Daley said.

"Yesterday David Boudia and I both qualified near the bottom, but today we are near the top of the table. The Chinese have been very consistent, though.

"I am not just diving for a bronze medal, bronze is almost gold as the standard of diving is so high."

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.

"Coming 13th and missing out by one spot is really hard. If I'd come 18th it would have been easy to say 'oh well, I didn't have a chance,'" Mitcham said.

"It was always going to be a massive struggle for me (with injuries), but I'm always going to be an Olympic champion, so there," he said defiantly.

"It is sad to see Matthew go out, the standard has been so high," Daley said.

Boudia agreed: "Matt is a great diver, the defending champion. He's been through a lot of injuries. Today, in the competition, he did an amazing job with some amazing dives. He'll bounce back from this. That's what sport is about."

German Martin Wolfram was fifth with 519.00 ahead of Victor Minibaev of Russia 514.15.