Excitement is building for the second leg of the FINA Diving World Series 2008, to be held May 24-25 in Sheffield, GBR. This event is stacked with high-profile names, as many of the world’s best will use the event to test their skills and gauge their competition ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games this summer. World Series participants all aim to win a share of the US$ 480,000 in total prize money distributed to the Series winners, comprised of US$ 96,000 per meet and US$ 192,000 after the conclusion of all legs of the competition. Fans will be able to watch the Sheffield stop over the weekend via live streaming on www.fina.org. The LIVE Webcast of the Finals will begin: 24 May at 12:30 (GMT) and 25 May at 12:45 (GMT).
As usual, China will send a formidable diving delegation, including Minxia Wu, Xin Wang, Chen Ruolin, and the great Jingjing Guo, while the men’s competition will face the likes of Kai Qin, Luxin Zhou and Yue Lin. However, the first World Series 2008 meet, which was held in Tijuana, Mexico, proved the outcomes are unpredictable when the competitive field is so deep. In Mexico, it was the home divers that stole the show, with Paola Espinosa and Yahel Castillo taking gold in the women’s platform and men’s springboard respectively. The men’s synchro platform meanwhile, went to the Russian duo Oleg Vikulov and Konstantin Khanbekov.
In Sheffield, eyes will be on the British divers eager to impress at home, especially the prodigious Tom Daley, the European 10m champion who just turned 14 this week. As the youngest member of the British Olympic squad, he is already a star athlete in England and expectations of him will be high when he takes on the cream of China’s golden hopefuls at the second round of the Diving World Series this weekend. The British teenager will also join partner Blake Aldridge, 26, in the 10m synchronised event. Without mentioning the promising female contingency, also competing for Britain will be Ben Swain, Peter Waterfield, and Nicholas Robinson-Baker.
Commencing in 2007, the FINA Diving World Series is a new, elite, annual competition that gives the world’s best divers an exciting and rewarding opportunity to compete against each other more often. This prestigious contest promotes awareness about which countries are renowned for the sport, and fosters growth of the discipline in both the host nations and other parts of the world. The third and final leg of the FINA Diving World Series 2008 will be held from May 30-31 in Nanjing, CHN.