PLYMOUTH divers Tonia Couch and Tom Daley will open their 2017 FINA/NVC World Series campaigns in the early hours of Friday morning.
The pair are part of an eight-strong Great Britain team that has headed to Beijing, China, for this weekend’s event.
Couch will be first up, competing in the women’s 10m synchro competition with Yorkshire diver Lois Toulson.
They will dive fourth out of the eight pairs, which includes China’s Qian Ren and Yani Chong, Malaysia’s Pandelela Pamg and Jun Hoong Cheong and the new Canadian partnership of Meaghan Benfeito and Caeli McKay.
Daley will be in action in the second event of the series leg – the men’s 10m synchro.
He will compete alongside former Plymouth Diving star Dan Goodfellow. The duo have claimed a medal in every competition they have competed in since teaming up together at the start of last year, including winning bronze at last summer’s Olympic Games in Rio.
Daley and Goodfellow, who moved to Leeds in the autumn along with coach Marc Holdsworth, will dive fifth out of six pairs. Among their rivals will be China’s Aisen Chen and Hao Yang, Germany’s vastly experienced pair of Patrick Hausding and Sascha Klein and Russia’s Viktor Minibaev and Alex Bondar.
Daley will also compete in the men’s individual 10m event on Sunday morning. He is drawn in semi-final B, alongside Chen and Klein.
Both Daley and Couch have happy memories of competing at the Water Cube in Beijing. Both made their Olympic debuts there as teenagers and claimed top eight finishes.