I’m a huge fan of the amount of attention Universal Sports is giving to the FINA Diving World Series. The site will be providing LIVE coverage of the diving events April 18th-19th (which means an early start time for those of us watching on this side of the pond).

Aside from the webcast coverage, Universal Sports also has a great collection of photos from Getty Images, including pictures from the World Series diving event in Doha.

Check out this article they posted on Wednesday, with quotes from Thomas Finchum and USA Diving High Performance Director, Steve Foley. As mentioned in a previous post, the dynamic duo of Finchum and Boudia will not reunite until the World Series moves to Mexico next week. However, don’t count out the 10-meter synchro team of Thomas Finchum and Nick McCrory just yet. They took the silver medal at the previous World Series stop in China, placing behind the team of Lin Yue/Huo Liang (CHN).

Host team Britain’s Tom Daley will be tested with his new synchro partner Max Brick as this is their first competition diving together. More on the controversy surrounding the line-up change in this previous post.

This weekend, April 18th-19th, the FINA World Series of Diving will come to Sheffield, England. With a possible home-court advantage (or at least avoiding severe jet lag), the British divers have been preparing for the meet. However, a line-up change has been receiving a lot of media attention which resulted in a new British men’s synchronized platform pair.

The Herald reported last month that British wonder-kid, Tom Daley (14), was stepping up his search for a new platform partner. Daley and former partner Blake Aldridge (26) had a bit of a falling-out over the winter months. Then, in February, Aldridge was assaulted in a nighclub in Southampton from which he received a broken nose and a cut on his forehead requiring 10 stitches.

Because of this, Tom Daley had no synchro partner for the British National Championships also in February. It is reported that Daley’s father considered this the last straw in the troublesome partnership, and made plans to find a replacement.

Aldridge’s injuries forced him out of the pool, and out of a spot on the synchro team

Finally, last week it was announced that Tom Daley “will make his competitive debut with new dive partner Max Brick in the third leg of this year’s FINA World Series at Sheffield” (source). Brick will be 17 years old in July, and seems like the most suitable partner for teen diving star Daley. Tom Daley’s father told BBC Sports that Brick was a good match for Tom, “as close as anybody is going to be.”

Brick and Daley are also closer in age and appearance than the previous pair of Daley with Aldridge (Aldridge was more than a decade older than Daley). Although physical appearance doesn’t affect scores directly, looking identical could certainly be viewed as an advantage in an event where synchronization is important.

From the USA, Thomas Finchum and stand-in synchro partner Nick McCrory will compete again in their relatively new platform pairing. Finchum and McCrory were matched up while David Boudia was pre-occupied representing Purdue University at the NCAA Championships. The synchro team of Finchum and Boudia will reunite in Mexico later this month for the final leg of the World Series.