Alysha Koloi became Australia’s newest world champion in diving overnight winning gold in the Women’s 1-Metre Springboard on World Aquatics Championships debut.

The 22-year-old had to fight her way to top position after she finished the preliminary round in sixth place on a score of 240.

Koloi didn’t hold back in the final, scoring 56.40 points for her first dive, an inward 1 ½ somersault pike. She moved into the lead with two dives to go and ultimately finished with a total score of 260.50, ahead of silver medallist Grace Reid from Great Britain and bronze medallist Maha Eissa of Egypt. Australia's Brittany O'Brien was 22nd. 

“I’m still shocked. I put my head down and did my competition as usual and this is a big surprise. It’s my first worlds. I’m stoked,” Koloi said.

Making her debut at a senior world championships, Koloi said the one metre event was a chance to blow out the cobwebs ahead of the women’s 3-metre springboard later in the meet.  

“I was doing this competition to get a feel for the environment and get used to having a crowd, big atmosphere and lots of cameras and interviews. I’m glad I’ve got it over and done with and we’ll see how we go with the three metre,” she said.  

The Australians certainly delivered on day one of the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, with the Australian quartet of Cassiel Rousseau, Nikita Hains, Shixin Li and Maddison Keeney winning a bronze medal in the mixed team’s event.

After a shaky start the Aussies pulled through to claim third position on the podium, which they shared with Great Britain who won gold, and Mexico who won silver.

Hains said the team rallied together to produce the result for their country.

“We started off a little bit rocky and that rattled the team a little bit, but we got behind each other and we just went from stride to stride after that and we didn’t let it affect us,” Hains said.

“We could feel ourselves getting better and better as we went along and the team ended up really well and we ended up on the podium and that was a really exciting thing for us,” she said.  

The Tokyo Olympian said she wouldnt be forgetting the moment anytime soon.

“Standing up at a world championships on the podium is something I’ve never experienced before. That in itself is really cool. To look down and have a cool and pretty medal, but to also have that experience is something I’ll never forget,” she said.  

The Men’s 1-Metre Springboard preliminaries and finals will be held on Saturday with Australia’s Shixin Li and Kurtis Mathews in action.

• The World Aquatics Championships 2024 are on in Doha from 2-11 February 2024. 
• Watch all finals on 9Now
• Find the schedule and follow live results at the World Aquatics website.
• Follow @DivingAus for team updates.