The world's best 14-18-year-old divers will begin vying for medals at the 2024 World Aquatics Junior Diving Championships in Rio de Janeiro starting Sunday.
More than 200 teenage divers from 42 nations have descended on the second-largest city in Brazil to compete for junior world titles at the Julio Delamare Aquatic Park.
The 25th edition of the biennial event will feature 17 finals over eight days, from 24 November through 1 December.
Divers will be separated by age groups. Group A will feature athletes 16-18 years old, and Group B will comprise ages 14-15. Each group will have six individual finals – girls 1m, 3m and platform, and boys 1m, 3m, and platform – for a total of 12 individual finals.
There will also be four synchro diving events. These will combine the age groups and be contested for both girls and boys on the 3m springboard and the platform – for a total of four finals.
Finally, there will be one mixed team event. National teams will be made up at least one male diver, one female diver, and no more than four divers total. Together, they will aim for the highest cumulative score over six dives (four individual and two synchro).
The busiest day of competition will be the opening Sunday, with three gold medals at stake: in (the age-group combined) girls synchro platform, (the age-group combined) boys’ synchro 3m springboard, followed by the mixed team event final.
As in most elite diving competitions, China will be the team to watch. Two years ago, when Montreal, Canada, hosted the junior world championships, China did not compete. This year, the diving powerhouse will be sending a team of five athletes (three girls and two boys). It’s a small contingent – especially compared to the US, who will have the largest team, at 21. The US squad will include 17-year-old Josh Hedberg.
At 15, Hedberg won three medals at the 2022 Junior World Championships (bronze on 10m, bronze in 10m synchro, and team gold). That was after he had already made the finals on the 10m platform at that summer’s senior world championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Ukraine’s Kyrylo Azarov is also back for more junior world action. In 2022, he won the B Boys’ 1m springboard title.
On the women’s side: American Anna Lemkin returns after winning the 2022 junior world title in 3m, as well as a bronze on 10m platform.
Lucy Dovison of Australia is the only other multi-medallist to return to the junior world championships. In Montreal in 2022, she took silver in 3m and bronze in 3m synchro.
As for Brazil, the 2024 World Aquatics Junior Diving Championships will be Rio’s first official global aquatic event since the 2016 Olympic Games. The venue is different, however. The juniors will compete at the Julio Delamare Aquatic Park, which opened long before they were born, in 1978, and was named for a sports broadcaster.