Day 16 in Singapore featured a packed schedule, with medals awarded in the Women’s 1m Springboard Diving and the Women’s 20m Platform High Diving. The Mixed 3m & 10m Team Diving Final also took place, with strong performances from several nations. Away from competition, attention also turned to the pool, as some of the biggest names in swimming spoke at a pre-event press conference ahead of racing getting underway tomorrow. Read on for reflections from athletes and coaches.
Swimming Press Conference
Leon MARCHAND (FRA)
On what motivates him now:
“I would say it’s more a transition year for me after the Olympics, which was a big goal for me and a lot of athletes, mostly French. I would say it’s getting back into the game. I had a pretty good year of relaxing, getting back into it, but taking the time for it. I’m excited for Worlds, I want PBs in every single one of my races. Of course, I want to break world records in the next few years, I don’t know when that’s going to happen. But I still have a lot to do in the swimming world.”
Cameron MCEVOY (AUS)
On whether being a new dad has changed his perspective:
“It happened so fast. It was the blurriest yet clearest moment of my life. It’s really special. It’s definitely changed my perspective in the grand scheme of things. I’m also learning that you can hold that, but still maintain and go after your passions as well. I’ll continue to learn how to do that as we go forward. It’s been wild, I’m still processing a lot of the changes that come with it, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
Lani PALLISTER (AUS)
On the dynamics of the Women’s 800m Freestyle:
“It’s really exciting. Katie’s (LEDECKY, USA) done incredible things for the sport and arguably she’s the greatest distance swimmer of all time. We have someone like Summer (MCINTOSH, CAN) making waves in her events as well. For me, this is a meet where I want to see the training I’ve done with Dean (BOXALL), being in a new programme. I just want to put together a time and race that I’m happy with. They’re (LEDECKY, MCINTOSH) both so close to the world record. There are goals and race plans in place, but it’ll be really cool to see from the outside as well as being in it.”
Florian WELLBROCK (GER)
On his training environment and his training group:
“It helps a lot. We have a really good spirit in our training group. I’m competing or training every day side by side with Lucas Mertens, Oliver Klemet. Every training day is like a competition. We try to push each other at the highest levels, and it’s the key to being on the top of the world stage.”
Ichika KAJIMOTO (JPN)
On her expectations for swimming events after winning some Open Water Swimming medals:
“Right after finishing the Open Water Swimming (OWS) events, and with hardly any time to pause, I moved straight into pool swimming. Winning medals in OWS events gave me a huge boost in confidence. There’s absolutely no downside to it. I want to carry that confidence from winning medals in OWS into my pool races as well.”
Noe PONTI (SUI)
On his short-course world record from Budapest:
“It was pretty special to me, to break that world record in the 100m Fly. In the 50m Fly I already got it four times before, in 2020 when Caeleb (DRESSEL, USA) first broke it, I thought it might be pretty impossible to break. But there we go, I did it. It wasn’t that impossible, you just have to believe in what you’re doing and everything is possible if you train for it and believe in it.”
Hubert KOS (HUN)
On a rivalry with Leon MARCHAND in the 200m Medley:
“I don’t know about rivalry. I did have a better time when I was 18 – let’s put that out there. Not that it really matters now. I’m excited to swim a different event now… it’s only the backstroke for the past couple of years. Going back to it will be a nice trip down memory lane. We’ll see, first step is to make the semis, then make the final. We’ve been swimming together for the past two years with Leon, we’ll see how the final goes. My money’s still on Leon Marchand. We’ll see, I don’t want to count myself out just yet.”
Nicolo MARTINENGHI (ITA)
On winning gold in Paris 2024 and coping with the post-Olympic high:
“It was so tough after Paris. It was like a dream come true but it was also a lot of difficulty in my mind. I stopped, not for eight weeks, but for five months. I decided to change my life. I moved to Verona, the romantic city, new coach, new life, new people. It helped me to discover again how to enjoy my life, the swimming world. Now I can say that I’m ready to come back to push again. I feel good.”
High Diving
Women’s 20m
Rhiannan IFFLAND (AUS) - Gold
On what a fifth straight gold means:
“Yeah, this one’s crazy. I’ve already achieved four in the past, and I was wondering about the possibility of winning a fifth. I came into this event knowing I could be fighting for it, but it wasn’t my main goal. It’s insane, I’m blown away, I’m kinda speechless right now. I never would have thought 10 years ago I would be holding my fifth medal.”
On what has kept her motivated:
“That’s easy – I love it. I love competing. I love the sport. I’ve been a part of it for a long time now. For the female side, I’d like to think I’m a part of the furniture, and I think that’s what drives me every day. It’s to see how the sport is growing, and I love travelling and competing, and there’s no better feeling than pulling off a good dive.”
Simone LEATHEAD (CAN) - Silver
On taking silver:
“Proud, just very proud. To be able to do this in front of my family and just be able to wear the maple leaf and do great; it’s just super, super satisfying.”
Maya KELLY (USA) - Bronze
On a podium finish at her debut World Championships:
“I’m super excited. I did not expect this, so for it to be my first time and to do the best diving I’ve ever done is really cool, and I’m really proud of myself.”
On competing alongside more experienced divers:
“It’s my first year that I’m able to fully go off of the 20m Platform. I’m in the senior age group, so I’m here with a lot of older and more experienced divers. It’s definitely been an experience being the youngest one here. Just learning from my fellow divers, it’s been a really cool experience.”
Diving
Mixed 3m & 10m Team
CHENG Zilong (CHN) – Gold
On the result:
“This is my first time taking part in a World Championships, and this is China’s first diving medal here, so I’m really happy about that. I’m taking part in three events here, so I’ll continue to give it my best and try to find a breakthrough for the remaining events.”
Osmar OLVERA IBARRA (MEX) - Silver
On diving’s standing in Mexico:
“We have a lot of fans. We’re really blessed to have the people’s support for every competition, so it’s awesome to win a medal today and make them proud.”
Rin KANETO (JPN) - Bronze
On the result:
“I don’t look at the scores during the competition, so I didn’t know that we got a bronze. I couldn’t believe it. We said we’ll just come and have fun, just do our best. We were thinking it would be good result if we got the top 8. Just relax and have fun. We just can’t believe this.”
Women’s 1m Springboard
Maddison KEENEY (AUS) – Gold
On her future in diving:
“I’ll definitely keep going until 2028, as long as I don’t have any injuries or anything. Beyond that, I’m not too sure, I’d like to think that I’d be done because I’ll be older, but the next Olympics after that is in my hometown, so it’s scary because I’ll feel like competing for that. I just really love diving, training, travelling the world, making new friends, so as long as I’m having fun, I’ll keep diving.”
LI Yajie (CHN) – Silver
On what’s next:
“With this event complete, I will now focus on the Mixed 3m Synchronised. My partner (CHENG Zilong) is young, but I’m also competing in it for the first time. We’ll just try to communicate with each other more. I think we work quite well together, so I hope we will be able to show that in competition.”
Chiara PELLACANI (ITA) - Bronze
On what the result means:
“It means a lot because it’s my first solo medal at (these) World Championships. I was trying to get it for years and it finally happened, so I’m very happy.”