Performing to the song "Unholy" by Sam Smith and Kim Petras, Díaz del Río impressed the judges with his "The Beauty of Darkness" routine.

The Spaniard topped the podium with 224.5550 points at the Marine Messe Fukuoka in the Japanese city.

It was an historic moment for artistic swimming and Díaz del Río as the event was making its debut at the World Aquatics Championships.

"I feel so relieved and happy that the result of so much work has arrived," said Díaz del Río.

"It is a very gratifying feeling.

"I'm still in shock.

"I cannot believe it.

"I think it is something that only after a few days I will really understand what is happening.

"I felt a lot of love and warmth from the people around me here and they have given me a lot of strength."

American Kenneth Gaudet earned 216.8000 to seal silver following his performance "Break the Social Norms".

Eduard Kim also made history by becoming Kazakhstan’s first medallist in artistic swimming.

The Kazakh swimmer bagged bronze after scoring 216.000 for his routine "SOS d’un terrien en détresse".

China also tasted artistic swimming success for the first time at this year’s event after notching a winning score of 238.0033.

"Today we were able to demonstrate our strength in the performance," said China’s Xiang Binxuan.

"I’m happy that we got a higher score than the preliminary round.

"We were able to demonstrate the power of each member and we thought that we were able to perform the best routine so far."

The United States had to settle for silver with 232.433, while hosts Japan registered 220.5867 for bronze.

China continued their diving dominance, taking their gold-medal tally to seven after winning two more titles at the Fukuoka Prefectural Pool.

Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen retained their women’s synchronised 3 metre springboard crown with a comprehensive victory.

The Chinese pair racked up 369.84 to take the title, beating Britain’s Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen who earned silver with 296.58.

Italy’s Elena Bertocchi and Chiara Pellacani picked up bronze after scoring 285.99.

Lian Junjie and Yang Hao of China won their second successive men’s synchronised 10m platform title after posting 477.75.

Ukraine’s Kirill Boliukh and Oleksiy Sereda notched 439.32 for silver, while Mexico's Kevin Berlin and Randal Willars scored 434.16 for bronze.

Competition is due to continue tomorrow with medals set to be awarded across diving, artistic swimming and open water swimming.