FINA Diving World Series – The Facts

The FINA Diving Series 2009 is an invitational event showcasing the talents of world’s top ranked divers.  The event has replaced the original diving cup format with an exciting ‘designed for TV’ event showcasing the best divers in the world.  Divers compete for prize money over the following four legs:

21st – 22nd March 2009 Doha (Qatar)

27th – 28th March 2009 Changzhou (China)

18th – 19th April 2009 Sheffield (Great Britain)

24th – 25th April 2009 Mexico City (Mexico)

Entry into the event is by invitation only to the top ranked divers in the world as shown below.  The host nation is guaranteed a place in the Sheffield leg even if they have not qualified by right.  With a small number of events in the series and a significant amount of prize money, the event is guaranteed to attract the best divers.

The two-day event should include approximately 65 divers who will receive direct invitations based on their ranking in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games:

• Top 8 Women + host nation diver (if not included in the top 8)

• Top 8 Men + host nation diver (if not included in the top 8)

• Top 6 Women synchro pairs + host nation diver (if not included in the top 6)

• Top 6 Men synchro pairs + host nation diver (if not included in the top 6)

Conditions

INDIVIDUAL COMPETITION - The individual competitions comprise 3m Springboard and 10m Platform for both men and women, and will be held as a tournament in each event with two (2) Semi-finals of four (4) or five (5) divers each and a Final with the two (2) best divers from each respective semi-final.  For the first FINA DWS meet (Doha, Qatar) the divers will be seeded in the semi finals according to their rankings  in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games with the divers ranked 7, 5, 3 and 1 in Semi-final “A”, starting in that order in the semi-finals as well as in the finals, and the divers ranked 8, 6, 4 and 2 in Semi-final “B”, starting in the same order.  Additional divers, when required, start as number one in Semi – final “A” or “b”, decided by drawing lots.  After the first FINA DWS meet in Doha, Qatar, the divers will be re-seeded according to their rankings in the precedent FINA DWS meet.  In all sessions, the divers perform only dives with unlimited degree of difficulty, six (6) for men and five (5) for women.

SYNCHRONISED COMPETITION - The synchronised diving competitions comprise 3m Springboard and 10m Platform for both men and women and will be held as direct finals with the teams seeded and starting in the reverse order of their ranking in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at the first FINA DWS meet in Doha, Qatar and then, in each subsequent meet, the teams would dive in reverse order of finish in the preceding FINA DWS meet.  An additional team, when required, starts as number one.  The finals comprise six (6) dives for men and five (5) dives for women in accordance with FINA Rule D 3.1 and D 3.2.

TIE BREAKER - In the event of a tie for the first, second or third place in an individual or synchronised event, the contest will be extended by one optional dive at a time until a winner for the tied place is established.

Prize Money

Prize money for each leg will be allocated as follows:

Prizes:  
1st place:   US$ 5,000 
2nd place:   US$ 4,000
3rd place:   US$ 3,000

Overall prize money will be awarded to all of the eight (8) individual and synchro events, as follows:

Prizes:                            
1st place:                    US$ 10,000
2nd place:                   US$ 8,000
3rd place:                    US$ 6,000