The 12-strong British Diving Team has arrived in Budapest ready for World Championship action which begins on 14 July.
The Team includes four Olympic medallist alongside European medallists who lead the way for six World Championship debutants.
First up on day one of action is James Heatly and Ross Haslam in the men’s 1m alongside Katherine Torrance who will be contesting the women’s 1m event.
One of the most experienced members of the team is Tonia Couch who has competed at six previous World Championships and she will line up with Lois Toulson in the 10m Synchro on 16 July.
“I’m excited to be back at a World Championships,” Couch said. “I really love competing at this level and to be at my seventh World Championships is something I can’t quite believe. I don’t think when I started competing I would be able to say I would have been at this level for this long.
“This year’s competition is a bit different though in that I will only be competing in the 10m Synchro with Lois [Toulson]. Having one event to focus on is nice and I love competing with Lois. We are a great team and we learn a lot from each other.”
For National Performance Director Alexei Evangulov this competition offers a valuable opportunity to see where the other countries are at this early part of the quadrennial.
“The first World Championships of the four-year cycle is always an interesting one,” Evangulov said. “Most of the time this competition is used as a way to test out new things and you often see a change in the divers. Some divers have retired and new ones have joined the team so it’s really important to see where they are.
“We will also be looking at the degree of difficulty the other countries have at this competition. Last year we saw an increase in this in list from around the world including ours. I’m expecting to see a lot of countries increasing their list of dives over the next four years.”
“At this competition I am also expecting to see more countries from Asia emerging including Japan and Malaysia. They definitely will be looking to take advantage of the location of the next Olympic Games so it’s important to have a look at the environment and the new competitors.
“On the back of the success in Rio we know that we need to keep building and moving forwards which is why I know our team will continue to work hard to be in the best shape for their competition day.”