DIVING Preview: Wide-open competitions at World Series Kazan, as China sends its second team

The fourth of five events in the FINA Diving World Series – its highest-level diving series – is in Kazan (RUS) and will have a significantly different outcome than the prior three chapters.

That’s because China is entering only a partial team and without many of the dominant divers who have combined to win 28 of the 30 events held over the first three legs of the series.

So, there are opportunities for others in the still high-quality fields; some of the headline performers who are expected to compete:

Men:
● Jack Laugher (GBR) ~ 2016 Olympic 3 m Synchro gold medalist
● Tom Daley (GBR) ~ 2009-2017 World 10 m Champ; 2017 Worlds Mixed 3 m silver
● Evgenii Kuznetsov (RUS) ~ 2017 World 3 m Synchro Champion
● 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
● 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 medalist
● 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

Prize money of $5,000-4,000-3,000 will be available to the top three in each event for a meet total of $120,000. Look for results here.