The long wait is over as diving at the FINA World Championships is set to get underway on Sunday 26 June at Duna Arena in Budapest, Hungary.

At the last FINA World Championships in 2019, Australian divers secured two podium finishes with gold in the Mixed 3-Metre Synchro from Maddison Keeney and Matthew Carter which came just a day after Keeney clinched bronze in the Women’s 3-Metre Springboard.

It will be the biggest international competitions since the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and Olympian Cassiel Rousseau, who will compete in the 10-Metre Platform and 10-Metre Synchro events, said he’s looking forward to being back on the world stage.

“It’s been a bit difficult having a year of only competing in Australia, due to their being little competition and very few 10m boys on the platform,” the 21-year-old explained.

“It’s great to be back competing with the best, having a little bit more fire in me and people pushing me during competition.

“I feel as though whether it’s my first World Championships, second or even possibly my fifth, every single time I’ll just be looking to have fun.”

Duna Arena isn’t an unfamiliar venue for several members of the team, having previously held the FINA World Aquatics Championships in 2017.

“The pool in Budapest is incredible! Just like any major event the pools are always dressed up nicely in terms of lighting and scenery which surprisingly motivates you a bit more and makes you all more excited to be competing,” Rousseau said.

All eyes will be on synchro pair Melissa Wu and Charli Petrov after winning gold in the Women’s  Platform Synchro at the FINA Diving Grand Prix in Calgary, Canada. It will be 14-year-old Petrov’s first major international event, after qualifying for her first Australian team at the Australian Open Championships earlier this month.

Australia will be strongly represented across all events including the Women’s 3-Metre Synchro with 2016 Olympic Bronze Medal winning team Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith set to take part.

The opening day of competition will feature Emily Boyd, who returns for her first major international event since 2013, and Tokyo Olympian Nikita Hains in the Women 10-Metre Platform.

“The World Championships is one of the pinnacle events in our sport - I get to dive amongst the world’s best divers, which is extremely challenging but also extremely exciting,” Hains said.

“I always say that getting to put on the green and gold and stand up on the world stage is something so special and something I definitely don’t take for granted.

“The Olympics exposed me to pressure like I’d never felt before, and I hope to use that experience and knowledge I gained last year to really settle my nerves and focus myself to put in a good performance here at the World Championships,” she said.

Diving at the FINA World Championships will be live streamed on 9Now (only the afternoon and evening sessions).

For the full schedule - click here

AUSTRALIAN TEAM