The Chinese diving team goes to the World Championships to strive for victory
China Sports News reporter Li Dongye
On January 28, the Chinese diving team flew from Beijing to Doha to participate in the World Swimming Championships. In this trip to Doha, the Chinese diving team sent all its main players to participate, including 8 male athletes and 5 female athletes, including 6 Olympic champions Quan Hongchan, Chen Yuxi, Xie Sicheng, Wang Zongyuan, Cao Yuan, and Zhang Jiaqi, as well as Chen Yiwen, There are six world champions, Chang Yani, Yang Hao, Lian Junjie, Long Daoyi and Zheng Jiuyuan.
Sending all the main players to participate, the goal is not just to compete for gold and silver. This world championship is the last stop for various associations to compete for a spot in the Paris Olympics in diving. Although the Chinese team has fully qualified for the Fukuoka World Championships, it still needs to take this opportunity to observe its opponents, temper its team, and comprehensively consider its results to select its Olympic lineup.
At last year’s Fukuoka World Championships, the Chinese diving team won 12 of the 13 gold medals in diving. At this year’s World Championships in Doha, judging from the participating events, the Chinese diving team “tactically” gave up the women’s 1-meter springboard and the mixed doubles 3-meter springboard because the men’s and women’s 1-meter springboard and the mixed doubles 3-meter springboard and the mixed doubles 10-meter platform It is a non-Olympic event, but in order to train young players and increase competition experience, Zheng Jiuyuan was sent to participate in the men’s 1-meter springboard, and Zhang Jiaqi/Huang Jianjie participated in the mixed doubles 10-meter platform competition.
The diving events of the 2024 World Aquatics Championships will be held from February 2 to February 10. In addition to the women’s 10-meter platform “twin stars” Quan Hongchan and Chen Yuxi, the two-time Olympic champion Cao Yuan, who has returned from injury, and the Tokyo Olympics men’s 3-meter springboard double champion Xie Siyu, who returned last year, are particularly attracting attention. Huang Jianjie, who is under 14 years old, is the only non-world champion member of the Chinese team and the youngest player.
After the Tokyo Olympics, Quan Hongchan and Chen Yuxi continued to maintain first-class standards in the women’s 10-meter platform event. The strength of the two is about equal, and the outcome will depend on who performs more consistently.
In the men’s 10-meter platform event, Yang Hao/Lian Junjie will compete in the double event. Yang Hao/Lian Junjie are the main combination of the Chinese men’s synchronized 10-meter platform. This World Championships will face competition from Ukraine, Mexico, the United Kingdom and other combinations. impact. In the single event, the Chinese team sent Cao Yuan and Yang Hao to compete together. For a long time, in men’s singles events, foreign players have used difficult moves to challenge the Chinese team, which is superior in quality and stability. At this World Championships, not only Russo, the gold medalist at the Fukuoka World Championships, but also the strength of players from Britain, Ukraine, Mexico, Japan and other countries cannot be underestimated.
Looking at the world competition, the competition in the men’s 3-meter springboard event is very fierce, and the British team and the Mexican team are very strong. The Chinese team in the double 3-meter springboard is composed of Wang Zongyuan and Long Daoyi, which is unchanged from the previous World Championships. In the solo project, Wang Zongyuan will team up with Xie Siyu to win the gold. After the Tokyo Olympics, Xie Siyu faded out of the public eye. At the end of 2023, he won the runner-up in two trials in Wuhan. He showed good competitive form and was successfully selected into the lineup for the World Championships.
Chang Yani will compete in the women’s 3-meter springboard and women’s synchronized 3-meter springboard competitions. In the doubles 3-meter board, her powerful combination with Chen Yiwen is outstanding, and there is currently no challenger. On solo projects, the two will engage in direct dialogue.
In the mixed synchronized 10-meter platform event, Zhang Jiaqi will compete with Huang Jianjie. Huang Jianjie, a “post-10” youngster, won the runner-up in the men’s synchronized 10-meter platform and the eighth place in the men’s 10-meter platform in the second leg of the World Championships trials last year.
This year’s World Championships in Doha will feature six events: diving, synchronized swimming, open water swimming, water polo, swimming and high platform diving.