British divers aiming to secure final Olympic spots at World Championships

British Swimming’s 13-strong diving squad are in Doha as their World Aquatics Championship campaign gets underway tomorrow.

They will take on the world’s best divers as they look to add to their three silver medals that they took home from last year’s championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

The main priority for the British team in Doha is to secure the final three quota spots available for British athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Just a place in the Men’s 10m Synchronised Platform and both the Men’s and Women’s 3m Springboard events are left to secure for Great Britain after a successful 2023 which saw three World Championship medals and seven at the European Games.

Responsibility of claiming one of those qualification spots goes to the returning reigning Olympic champion Tom Daley. He’ll be partnered by Noah Williams in the Men’s 10m Synchro where they just need to finish in the top four pairs of those yet to qualify for the Games in Paris.

Daniel Goodfellow and Scarlett Mew Jensen both secured one place for Great Britain in each of the 3m springboard events but once more spot in each event is up for grabs for Team GB in Doha.

Three time Olympic medallist Jack Laugher and Ross Haslam will compete for British Swimming in the men’s event whilst Yasmin Harper and Scotland’s Grace Reid are aiming to secure the maximum number of places for GB in Paris in the women’s event.

The entirety of the Championships can be watched on Eurovision Sport and you can find all the details on how to watch the competition here.

‘You can never get too much experience’

Elsewhere the rest of the squad are looking to showcase their quality on the international stage and continue the strong showing of British diving at the top level.

Amongst those is Tokyo Olympian Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix who after training full time in recent months, told World Aquatics that she’s ‘100 per cent focussed’ on reaching the podium in Doha.

She said: “I’ve been able to concentrate more at training and be 100 percent focused on my diving. Instead of chasing a person or a competitor, I’m just pushing myself.”

She’s hoping to continue her fine form from last year where she set a personal-best total score to win the Women’s 10m Platform event at the 2023 British Diving Cup in December. Her 393.50-point tally was also a national record which she’s hoping to improve on once again in Qatar as she targets her first individual world medal.

“I’m a lot happier, a lot more focused, and my thoughts are a lot brighter than they used to be.

“So that is a great sigh of relief and a testament to the power of God and the love of family and support of everyone around me.”

“My goals are just to get through the rounds, enjoy the competition, and get as much experience as possible pre-Olympic Games. You can never get too much experience.”

She’ll face some tough competition with the Chinese pair of Quan Hongchan and Chen Yuxi who are the reigning Olympic gold and silver medallists in the individual Women’s 10m Platform.

Spendolini-Sirieix will look to topple their dominance on the 10m board where she will also team with Lois Toulson in the Synchronised Platform following their world silver medal last year.

“It’s not impossible to beat them,” Spendolini-Sirieix said. “They’re human. I’ve grown really-really close with Quan and Chen.”

“I look at how they train, how they compete. I see what the Chinese are doing that I’m not doing that can benefit my performance. I try to emulate.”

After Doha, she and the rest of the British squad will prepare for the 2024 British Olympic trials and aim to add to the three medals they won in Tokyo at Paris 2024.

You can read World Aquatics’ full article with Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix here.