5 Cool Things about the FINA Berlin Diving World Cup

Here are 5 cool things you might not know about this year’s event.

1. NO SEMIFINALS

In the four individual events, athletes will go directly from preliminaries to the finals, which means two things: there will be no time to have a bad day, and the divers from all 13 nations will have to arrive in top form. Thursday will feature all the prelims (in 3m and 10m for both men and women). The five other events (synchro and team) will be finals-only.

2. KA-CHING!

Since there are only 60 divers in the entire field, each athlete has a very good chance of cashing in on his or her performances. Prize money will be awarded to the top-6 finishers in the individual events ($6,000 US to the winner, $5,000 to the runner-up, $4,000 for third place, and so on), and the same amounts will be given to the top-3 in the synchro and mixed team events.

Considering men’s events are six rounds, that’s $1,000 per dive for the male event winners, and $1,200 per dive for female winners because women’s events are five rounds.

Of course, the busiest divers could end up with the biggest checks. Timo Barthel of Germany, 26, is the lone diver contesting four events. If he makes the podium in all of them, he could win $16,000 to $24,000, depending on where he finishes. The busiest female diver, 30-year-old Katrina Young of the United States, is entered in three events so she could make as much as $18,000 but to do so, she would have to topple the Chinese juggernaut. China, for all its depth and large (nine-athlete) delegation, is not entered in the mixed-team event. Several of its athletes will compete in two events, though.

3. STOP, DROP, & WATCH THIS

For those who love a rivalry, two must-see events will feature Chinese teenagers Quan Hongchan and Chen Yuxi as they compete against each other in the women’s 10m final on Saturday, and combine their exquisite talents in the women’s 10m synchro on Friday. Quan, a farmer’s daughter, won Olympic gold in Tokyo at age 14 by accruing 24 perfect scores (out of 35 possible) including 10s from all seven judges on two of her dives to upset the reigning world champion, Chen, who took the silver. But this summer in Budapest, the order flipped as Chen won her second consecutive world title and Quan took the silver.

The headliner on the men’s side is undeniably Cao Yuan of China, 27, a five-time Olympic medalist and eight-time world championships medalist. Notably, Cao won Olympic gold in Rio 2016 on the 3m board, and gold in Tokyo 2020 on the 10m platform. In Berlin, he will focus only on the springboard. His 3m final is on Friday and his 3m synchro final (with 2020 Tokyo Olympic synchro champion and individual 3m Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Wang Zongyuan) is on Saturday.

4. COMBO PLATTER

For the first time in history, a Diving World Cup is being held in tandem with a Swimming World Cup at the same venue. For four days (Wednesday through Sunday), the action will be virtually continuous and encourage athletes from the two disciplines to bond and cheer for one another.

5. VENUE VELO CONNECTION

The SSE swimming and diving hall is a 50-minute drive from the Berlin Brandenburg international airport and it’s connected to a velodrome. Both the cycling and aquatics arenas are built mostly underground, surrounded by a park featuring hundreds of apple trees. The whole site is about 30,000 square meters. The complex was built when Berlin was bidding to host the 2000 Olympics (which were awarded to Sydney, Australia). The swim hall opened in 1999 and claims to be the largest indoor swimming venue in Europe. It can accommodate 2,000 to 4,500 spectators. SSE is a German acronym for Schwimm- und Sprung-halle im Europasportpark. Diving is the “Sprung.”