Australia has secured its first diving quota position to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games courtesy of Olympic bronze medalist Maddison Keeney who finished fourth in the final of the Women’s 3-Metre Springboard at the World Aquatics Championships 2023.

The top 12-placegetters in the event earned their country a quota spot to next year’s Olympics.

With the quota position secured, Keeney pulled out all stops in Friday's final to give herself the best chance of making the podium. She was sixth with one dive to go and her final performance, a Forward 2 ½ Somersault 2 Twist Pike, was an incredible showstopper that scored 78.20 points and placed her in the lead. She ultimately placed fourth on a total score of 327.95 which was four points shy of the bronze medalist Pamela Ware of Canada. Chinese athletes filled the major placings with Yiwen Chen taking the gold and Yani Chang the silver.

The 27-year-old was thrilled to get the first diving quota spot for Australia.

Meanwhile, Cassiel Rousseau will take confidence from his preliminary and semi-final performances in the Men’s 10-Metre Platform after he qualified through to the Men’s 10-Metre Platform in second place. As he is assured a top 12 finish, an Australian quota position in this event is also all but confirmed.  

Rousseau was impressive in both preliminary and semi-final, finishing fifth and second respectively. In the semi-final Rousseau scored 494.10 points and 11.40 points behind leader Junjie Lian (CHN).

The 22-year-old said you can expect more from him in the final.

“Hopefully in the final I can step it up a little bit,” Rousseau said. 

“The semis was about making sure that I keep consistent. I didn’t want to do anything too special. I’m happy to have made it to the finals,” he said.

Tokyo Olympian Sam Fricker was also in action in the Men's 10-Metre Platform but finished down the order in 21st position with 370.35 points and he did not qualify for the semi-final. 

The Men’s 10-Metre Platform Final will be the final event of the 2023 World Aquatics Championships at 7.30pm AEST.

Australia will also compete in the Finals of the Mixed 3 Metre-Springboard.

Watch all finals on 9Now.

Full results are available on the World Aquatics website.