New format promises thrilling world diving event in Beijing

With a glittering cast of Olympic champions going head-to-head in a new format, this year's diving World Cup Super Final has doubled the excitement to thrill fans in Beijing during the holiday break.

As the annual finale of World Aquatics' elite World Cup series, the super final is never short of star power and jaw-dropping actions, while the 2025 edition, which kicks off at Beijing's famed "Water Cube" on Friday, has so much more to offer with a new one-on-one stage in individual disciplines intriguing divers from across the world.

Each of the four individual events — men's and women's springboard and platform — will feature an action-packed two-hour program that pairs 12 athletes in the opening head-to-head phase based on their seeding, which have been determined by their rankings from the Cup series' first two legs in Mexico and Canada earlier this month.

In this one-on-one round, each athlete will choose three dives to perform and the lowest scorer in each pairing will be eliminated, with the six better performers advancing to the semifinal.

Points from the head-to-head phase will carry over to the semis, which feature two groups of three competing against each other. Athletes will complete the remaining dives from their routine lists, with the lowest scorer in each group eliminated to leave four advancing into the final round. Results from the first two stages will be wiped for the final, and each diver will perform their full list to determine the medalists for each event.

This new format places emphasis on strategy, with athletes picking their dives based on their own strength and their opponents' weakness, while helping enhance the event's appeals to broadcasters and spectators.

About 70 divers from 16 countries and regions have qualified for the super final, with the host's diving "dream team" boasting fan favorites, such as 10m platform super duo Quan Hongchan and Chen Yuxi, men's two-time springboard Olympic champion Wang Zongyuan and his two-time Olympic champion women's counterpart Chen Yiwen.

"The new one-on-one format has presented us a different challenge, and I believe it will make the competition even more exciting and more unpredictable," Wang said at a news conference at the Water Cube on Wednesday.

British diver Jack Laugher, who will compete against Wang in men's 3m springboard, also welcomes the new format.

"I think that this is a very interesting, something new. In this format it can also give chance for, maybe, some of the lower-ranked divers, who qualified in 10th or 11th places to give everything to try and beat their opponents, which makes it exciting to the crowd and athletes as well," said the four-time Olympic medalist.

For crowd favorite Quan, who's racked up three Olympic golds on the platform since her impressive debut at Tokyo 2020 at just 14 years old, it will be a fresh new experience to dive for the first time in her career at the iconic Beijing 2008 venue.

"I am really looking forward to that (competing at the Water Cube), yet I will try to approach it as usual as other events. Hopefully I could bring out my best and execute all my dives as well as expected," said Quan, who just turned 18 last month.