Just days after the first World Cup stop in Guadalajara, Mexico, 129 divers are assembling in Windsor, Canada, to contest event No. 2 of the World Aquatics Diving World Cup tour. The event, from 10-13 April, will be their last chance to qualify for next month’s World Cup Super Final at the famous Water Cube in Beijing, China.
For many athletes, Windsor will be a refreshing new venue. Known as the automotive capital of Canada, Windsor is so close to another North American car-manufacturing hub (Detroit, Michigan) that fans can see Detroit across the river from the diving center. Windsor also happens to be the most southern city in Canada. And in 2016, it hosted swimming’s short course (25m) world championships.
This weekend, however, the spotlight will be on divers from 23 countries as they vie for medals, points, and prize money in all eight Olympic events – plus the non-Olympic mixed team discipline.
The first final, on Friday night, will be in that mixed team event. The field is stacked. The 10 entries include China, Germany, and Italy, who finished 1-2-3 last weekend in Guadalajara.
In the 3m and 10m individual and synchronized events, China will be a medal threat in every discipline, as usual. China claimed 12 medals at the Guadalajara World Cup – at least one per event – but host country Mexico, stymied a sweep by winning two golds of its own (in men’s 10m and in men’s 3m synchro).
China’s women’s team remains dominant, however. In Canada, the women’s 10m platform final on Saturday promises to be another battle to see which teenager can rack up the most perfect “10s”: the two-time Olympic champion Quan Hongchan,18, or two-time Olympic silver medalist Chen Yuxi, 19. On the women’s 3m springboard on Sunday, China’s 2024 Olympic gold and bronze medalists: Chen Yiwen, 25, and Chang Yani, 23, are expected to dominate once again.
On the men’s side, two-time Olympic silver medalist Wang Zongyuan of China, 23, will try to win back-to-back World Cup gold in the 3m springboard final on Saturday, against Mexican dynamo, Osmar Olvera, 20, (the bronze medalist in Paris) and the ultra-experienced Brit, Jack Laugher, 30, a multiple medalist who climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro last year and is aiming to make his ninth world championship team this July and August in Singapore.
In the men’s 10m platform final on Sunday, fans will be excited to see the return of Japan’s 2024 Olympic silver medalist Rikuto Tamai, 18, who sat out the first World Cup stop. To win, however, Tamai would have to upset Mexico’s Randal Willars Valdez, who won 10m gold in the Guadalajara World Cup, thanks in part to his last dive: a forward 4½ pike (with a 4.1 degree of difficulty) that scored 104.55 points.
There will be plenty of synchro diving action as well: two finals on Saturday and two more Sunday.
For a detailed schedule of the Windsor World Cup, click here.
Scores from both World Cups will determine qualification and seeding for the World Cup Super Final, which will feature an exciting new format for individual events when it debuts 2-4 May in the Chinese capital.
Where to Watch | Catch All the Action from Windsor
With the Windsor, Canada stop of the 2025 Diving World Cup season awaiting, here's where you can watch all the dives in your local market: Diving World Cup 2025 | Where to Watch Guide