SMITH READY TO SPRING INTO GRAND PRIX ACTION

London Olympian Anabelle Smith leads a young Australian diving team to Kuala Lumpur this weekend for a Grand Prix event she hopes will set her on the road to Rio.

22-year-old Smith finished fifth with Sharleen Stratton in the 3-metre synchro event at the 2012 Olympics, and went on to win bronze with Maddison Keeney in the 3-metre synchro at last year’s Commonwealth Games.

Since then Sydney’s Esther Qin and Adelaide’s Samantha Mills have become the most consistent springboard synchro team in Australia, winning a bronze at this year’s World Championships.

And the individual competition is just as tough, with Keeney, Qin, Mills and Queensland teenager Georgia Sheehan all challenging Smith for a place in Brazil.

“It is going to be tough to make the team, because Australia has great depth,” Smith said from Kuala Lumpur this week.

“I just have to trust in my coach and my training and do the best I can.

“It feels great to be back diving with the Australian team. I have big picture goals and there is a process to take, but I feel confident in the direction I am going with my diving.”

Smith will be joined in Kuala Lumpur by promising teenagers AnnaRose Keating, Brittany O’Brien, Josh Kehagias, and Nick Jeffree, and is very much looking forward to helping her young teammates.

“I love being a leader, and I’m looking forward to being a mentor,” she said.

“I understand the effect your own actions can have on others looking up to you.”

Smith will compete in the individual 3-metre springboard, and team up with Kehagias for the springboard mixed synchro.

Kehagias will also contest the men’s individual 3-metre, while Keating and O’Brien will both contest the platform event and dive together in the platform synchro.

O’Brien will also dive with Jeffree in the platform mixed synchro, while Jeffree will also contest the individual platform.

Following Kuala Lumpur, the Grand Prix circuit will head for the first time to the Gold Coast, where a full-strength Australian team will get their first real taste of competition in the 2018 Commonwealth Games pool.

Smith can’t wait.

“I am excited for the Gold Coast,” she said.

“I think it will be a great atmosphere and I can’t wait to be part of the huge team.”