Chen Yuxi - triple winner in Beijing - and Zhu Zifeng - the men's 10m platform champion - lifted the crystal trophy as the Best Female and Male Diver of the 2025 Diving World Cup season.

Women's 3m Springboard | Chen Jia stays steady to strike gold in Women’s 3m Springboard, edging Olympic champ Chen Yiwen in a Chinese 1-2 finish

No big surprise emerged from the women's 3m springboard, as the top three seeds performed smoothly from the head-to-head, semifinal, and final and did not even change places.

With her consistency, Chen Jia captured the gold medal with 382.05 points, edging her Olympic champion teammate Chen Yiwen into second with 368.40. Maddison Keeney of Australia took the bronze in 359.15. Fifth-seeded Chiara Pellacani of Italy came to fourth at 291.60. 

Chen Jia would love to call herself a "late bloomer." The 20-year-old entered the Chinese national team at the end of 2024 and made her international debut at the 2025 Diving World Cup, which kicked off in Guadalajara, Mexico. She then retained the women's 3m springboard title in Windsor, Canada, earlier in April.

 "I am really pleased with the gold, but I still need to learn much from others. I should say I was a slow learner to the new format competition. Besides, it took me time to adjust to the iconic Water Cube, which is larger and wider than the venues where I have competed before. My advantage is probably the height of jumping from the board," said Chen, who was born in Zigong, southwest China, where Chinese former Diving Queen Gao Min came from. Gao has maintained an unbeaten streak in world competitions to rule women's three springboards for seven years since 1986.  

"What a surprise and honour that I just heard Gao is here watching my competition at the stand. ! I have learned Gao's story since my diving class began at age 5. She has always been my idol; every coach would encourage our young kids by talking about Gao's achievements. I need to improve a lot to catch up with her," Chen added.

Two-time Olympic champion Chen Yiwen said she only recovered about 60 percent of her peak form. "I realized that it has been seven years since the first time I competed in a synchro event at a World Series stop in Water Cube. I felt out of physical strength in such a tight schedule. However, I enjoy the challenges with other divers and will try to regain my form step by step," said the 25-year-old.

 "It was really, really tiring because you have to make it through within two hours of action. I'm very lucky that my genetics are good. I take good care of myself and know I can't always do as much as I was when I was younger," said Keeney, who will celebrate her 29th birthday on May 23.

"I felt more mentally tired. I still need to do a lot of work because, like, at this level, you have to be consistent, no matter what kind of the format is," Pellacani said.

Men's 10m Platform | From quiet contender to crowned champion, Zhu Zifeng dazzles with near-perfection as Cheng holds strong and Rousseau finds joy—and a fresh start—in flight

For a long time, perfect marks rarely appeared in the men's 10m platform competition, but the 2nd-ranked Zhu Zifeng drove the crowd crazy by earning five 10s from his flying start 407C. Zhu collected five 90+ among six dives, with his highest score at 102.60 for his 207B, winning in 571.90 for the title, which also brought him the Trophy as the Best Male Diver of the World Cup.    

"I didn't expect to win this gold medal because I finished second in the two previous stops and also learned from it. I told myself to concentrate on my own techniques," Zhu, 22, said. 

Top seed Cheng Zilong scored three 10s in his 109C for a game-high 107.30, totalling 542.30 for the silver medal, and Cassiel Rousseau of Australia scored 499.65 for the bronze. Oleksii Sereda of Ukraine placed fourth 484.05.

"I did my best and improved myself on the final results. The competition format was cruel, which made me excited and nervous at the same time. I tried hard to take deep breaths to relax before each dive," said Cheng, winner in Windsor, Canada.   

Rousseau showed his newly cut hair and believed the new hairstyle improved his performance.

 "I told myself two years ago, 'If I did not make the final, I must shave my head'. I came to 14th in Mexico last month and cut my long hair. I felt I was diving better and faster now without wet hair on my face anymore. I love my new look, and you can call it the champion hairstyle, right?" joked the Australian champion at the 2023 Fukuoka Worlds.

 "I don't really aim to get medals. My aim is to have fun and obviously the more fun I have, the better I do. So this competition was amazing. The fans are amazing. Beijing is amazing, and it was amazing to compete here," Rousseau added.