MONONGALIA COUNTY, W.Va. – The Aquatic Center at Mylan Park will begin a new era by hosting the 2022 USA Diving Winter Nationals December 14 through 18. Director of Aquatics, Jennifer Lainhart said this is an opportunity for the public to see more than 100 world-class divers and a dress rehearsal for the U.S. Olympic Diving Trials in 2024 that could be coming to the facility.
“This is the largest event we’ve hosted to date and we hope to continue moving up that pole because we think we have the facility for these large diving events,” Lainhart said.
Planning for this week has been ongoing for the last several months and spearheaded by Lainhart, USA Diving Event Director Mike Retcher, Visit Mountaineer Country Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and local elected officials.
During a conference call, USA Diving President, Lee Michaud praised the group effort.
“I’ve been really impressed with the enthusiasm, with the integrity and with the actual love and passion for sports that you guys show,” Michaud said. “It’s really coming through and it makes a difference.”
The field of competitors includes several world champions, eight Olympians and many who are making their first splash in a major event. Michaud said spectators have an opportunity to watch the divers in competition as they vie for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Diving Team.
“These are the people you’re going to see diving in the Olympics in six years in Los Angeles. Then you have other folks that are going to be diving in the Olympics in two years in Paris,” Michaud said. ” And you have the people who have spent the majority of their lives training.”
The schedule does include a last-chance event for divers with close to qualifying scores to make the competition. December 12 and 13 the facility will host the Winter National Qualifier to add divers for the five-day championship.
The competition begins Wednesday and event championships are held Sunday. Events include men/women springboard and platform events from 1 meter, 3 meters, and 10 meters.
“Athletes 10 meters in the air throwing an insane amount of rotations, revolutions, twists and flips,” Retcher said. “So, for the public those are the cool events where they’re seeing a lot.”
The bid for the 2024 U. S. Olympic Trials is under review and a final decision is expected around the beginning of 2023. The site selection team has already made a site visit, unconfirmed reports indicate Mylan Park and Monongalia County are finalists to host the event.
“A lot of really great divers come out of the Indianapolis area because they’ve had all these high-level events for a long time,” Lainhart said. “So, I think of the year someday a great diver will come out of West Virginia because we were able to do this now.”
All-session tickets including the Winter National Qualifier and USA Winter Diving National Championships are $80 for adults, $45 for children 4 to 17 years old, and veterans. Single-session tickets are $20 for adults, and $12 for children 4 to 17-years old. West Virginia residents can receive one free youth ticket or an all-session ticket per paying adult.