Diving Australia is pleased to announce five athletes to represent Australia in two diving disciplines at the upcoming FINA Abu Dhabi Aquatics Festival to be held December 19-20, 2021.

Melissa Wu, Cassiel Rousseau, and Esther Qin will don the Green and Gold in diving with Rhiannan Iffland and Xantheia Pennisi representing in high diving.

The high diving event will serve as the qualifier for the 19th FINA World Championships to be held in Fukuoka, Japan next year. The diving event will function as a team exhibition with all three divers competing together across springboard, platform, and synchronised.

Melissa Wu comes into the event fresh off her medal winning performance at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. In her fourth Olympic Games, Melissa’s performance kept Australian diving’s medal winning streak alive through six consecutive Olympic Games.

Cassiel Rousseau returns to competition after a debut Olympic performance in Tokyo where he finished 8th in the Men’s 10-Metre event. Cassiel’s performance marks the best result in the event for a male since Matthew Mitcham’s iconic gold medal in Beijing.

In Tokyo, Esther Qin competed at her second Olympic Games where she returned to the final of the Women’s 3-Metre event. The springboard specialist has notched an impressive list of podium accomplishments including four Commonwealth Games medals, seven FINA Diving World Series medals, and eleven FINA Diving Grand Prix medals.

Reigning World Champion Rhiannan Iffland has been on a winning streak in Red Bull Cliff Diving events sweeping all five stops of the 2021 tour to remain undefeated through 13 Red Bull events. Rhiannan now has two FINA World Championship titles to her name and five King Kahekili Trophies as she heads into Abu Dhabi.

Xantheia Pennisi most recently secured two podium finishes in the 2021 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series on her way to a fourth-place finish in the tour. At the 18th FINA World Championships in 2019, Xantheia finished 6th in her event on debut for Australia.

Diving Australia thanks FINA for their kind invitation and significant contribution to the costs associated with attendence.

Follow along with all the action from the FINA Abu Dhabi Aquatics Festival on the Diving Australia Facebook and Instagram pages.