The city of Windsor is ready to host the best divers of the planet for the third leg of the FINA/NVC Diving World Series, taking place from April 15-17 in the southernmost city in Canada. 65 competitors representing 12 nations are already training at the Windsor International Aquatics & Training Centre and two of them publicly expressed, during the opening Press Conference of the event, their satisfaction to compete in this venue. “It’s a great facility, with a very warm and friendly atmosphere. I have very found memory of Windsor, I performed quite well here in 2015 and I look forward to doing the same this weekend”, said Jack Laugher, from Great Britain.
In a media opportunity that was also attended by Kathy Seaman, FINA Technical Diving Committee Chairman, Fred Francis, Windsor’s City Councillor, Penny Joyce and Mitch Geller, both from Diving Canada, the second diver of the panel was Jennifer Abel, from Canada.
“We all love this pool. The organisers have done a great job in terms of how the venue looks like and this is very important for the image of the competition”, considered Abel.
Fred Francis underlined that the involvement of the city aims at providing a strong legacy to its youth. “We know the benefits of bringing to our community an event of this calibre. That is why I appeal to the Windsor residents to fill the stands and to support these great athletes!” said the City Councillor.
Just waiting for the athletes - Photo by Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia
Mitch Geller, Chief Technical Officer at Diving Canada, underlined the importance of this competition in 2016. “We are in an Olympic year. The best here in Windsor will be the same divers that will be in the podium in Rio. This is definitively a world-class event!”
Speaking about Olympic preparation, Laugher, the British diver, also valued the World Series rendezvous. “It’s the perfect way to fin-tune the routines we have to put in place this summer at the Olympics. My preparation is going OK, despite an injury in the beginning of the year that obliged me to a three-week stop. I am quite confident!”
The 2016 edition of the FINA/NVC Diving World Series has four stops: two were already staged in Beijing (CHN) and Dubai (UAE), and after Windsor the circuit concludes in Kazan (RUS), on April 22-24. So far, China is overwhelmingly dominating the competition, with 20 gold medals out of the 20 events contested so far. Each World Series’ meet is composed of 10 finals: 3m springboard individual and synchro (men and women), 10m platform individual and synchro (men and women), and mixed synchro 3m and 10m.