The Chinese diving team is preparing for the 2024 World Championships in Doha, and this time, the Iron Lady Zhou Jihong will send her main force to compete. It is worth mentioning that, unlike in the past, the Chinese diving team "tactically" gave up the women's 1-meter board and mixed doubles 3-meter board, and did not participate in these two events, men's and women's 1-meter board, mixed doubles 3-meter board, mixed doubles 10m are not Olympic events, however, Zhou Jihong still decided to send Zheng Jiuyuan to participate in the men's 1-meter board, Zhang Jiaqi/Huang Jianjie to participate in the mixed doubles 10-meter event, also to give young athletes a chance. In other diving events, the Chinese team is all the main force to participate, such as Quan Hongchan, Chen Yuxi, Chang Yani, Wang Zongyuan, Lian Junjie, Yang Hao, Cao Yuan, Long Daoyi are all playing, it is worth mentioning that the 28-year-old veteran Xie Sicheng who is in a semi-retired state will also participate in the 3-meter board competition, it seems that Zhou Jihong still trusts Xie Sicheng very much, and the goal of the Chinese team is to ensure that the gold medal is not lost.
Judging from the training photos exposed by reporters, the athletes of the diving team are preparing seriously, 17-year-old Quan Hongchan will once again set foot on the stage of the World Championships, for her, although she has completed the super slam (Olympic gold medal, Asian Games gold medal, World Championships gold medal, World Cup gold medal, National Games gold medal), but if she wants to become the best in the world, she must beat her teammate Chen Yuxi. On January 25, Beijing time, FINA officially announced that Chinese players such as Quan Hongchan and Chen Yuxi were selected into the list of the best divers of the year. On the women's side, Quan Hongchan, Chen Yuxi, Chen Yiwen and Chang Yani were all selected, on the men's side, Wang Zongyuan and Yang Hao were selected, and the other two were foreign players, namely Ibarra and Rousseau.
At present, there is no big problem for Chinese athletes to win the women's and men's best divers of the year, the biggest suspense is the belonging of the best female diver of the year, Quan Hongchan and Chen Yuxi are the main contenders, they will participate in various competitions 8 times in 2023, winning all the gold medals in the double event, participating is the champion, and the dominance is very strong. However, in the single event PK, the two have played each other 8 times in the past year, Chen Yuxi has won 6 times, while Quan Hongchan has only won 2 times, and it is obvious that Quan Hongchan is at a disadvantage.
Quan Hongchan defeated Chen Yuxi in a head-to-head duel to win gold at the Diving World Cup Montreal Station and the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, and lost the other 6 competitions, while Chen Yuxi completed the feat of three consecutive World Championships and two consecutive World Cup championships. However, if the final result is voted by netizens, Quan Hongchan has a high probability of winning, after all, her popularity is very high, and she is also in the forefront of domestic athletes.
The diving competition will kick off this year's events, and after the World Championships and the World Cup, it will be the crucial Olympic Games, and the champion of the women's single 10-meter platform diving event at the 2024 Paris Olympics will belong to Quan Hongchan or Chen Yuxi?