The London Aquatics Centre will be the site for the fifth and final leg of the FINA Diving World Series this weekend, with high expectations for the home team.
This is in part because of the strong British squad, including World Championships medal winners Tom Daley, Jack Laugher, Matty Lee, Grace Reid and Lois Toulson, but also because China – the dominant force in the sport – is once again sending a second-tier squad to the meet.
However, the fields will be highly competitive, with a number of familiar stars:
Men:
● Jianfeng Peng (CHN) ~ 2017 World 1 m Springboard Champion
● Jack Laugher (GBR) ~ 2015 Worlds 3 m bronze; 2016 Olympic 3 m Synchro gold
● Tom Daley (GBR) ~ 2009-2017 World 10 m Champ; 2017 Worlds Mixed 3 m silver
● Matty Lee (GBR) ~ 2017 Worlds Mixed 10 m silver medalist
● Evgenii Kuznetsov (RUS) ~ 2017 World 3 m Synchro Champion
● Hao Yang (CHN) ~ 2017 World Synchro 10 m Champion
● Francois Imbeau-Dulac (CAN) ~ 2017 World Mixed 3 m bronze medalist
● Aleksandr Bondar/Viktor Minibaev (RUS) ~ 2017 Worlds 3 m Synchro silver medalists
Women:
● Maddison Keeney (AUS) ~ 2017 World 1 m Springboard Champion
● Jennifer Abel (CAN) ~ 2017 World 3 m Springboard bronze; Mixed 3 m bronze
● Pam Ware (CAN) ~ 2013 Worlds 3 m bronze; 2015 Synchro 3 m silver medalist
● Meaghan Benfeito (CAN) ~ 2017 World 3 m Synchro silver medalist
● Yani Chang (CHN) ~ 2017 World 3 m Synchro gold medalist
● Pandelela Pamg (MAS) ~ 2012 Olympic 10 m bronze; 2015 Worlds 10 m bronze
● Grace Reid (GBR) ~ 2017 World Mixed 3 m Springboard silver medalist
● Lois Toulson (GBR) ~ 2017 World Mixed 10 m Platform silver medalist
● Mi-Rae Kim (PRK) ~ 2017 World 10 m Platform silver medalist
● Il-Myong Hyon (PRK) ~ 2017 World Mixed 10 m Platform bronze medalist
There is prize money of $5,000-4,000-3,000 for the top three places, and seasonal prizes that are only available to athletes who have competed in all of the five World Series events. That will be a fairly short list. Look for results here.
