Wednesday, August 6, 2025

Mexico’s divers dominate podium with 4 medals in Singapore

The Mexican diving duo of Gabriela Agúndez and Alejandra Estudillo earned a silver medal in the women’s 10-meter synchronized platform diving event at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore on Monday, delivering Mexico’s fourth diving medal and fifth overall.

Agúndez and Estudillo finished second to the Chinese duo of Minjie Zhang and Yuxi Chen. Agúndez had won a bronze medal in this event at the 2020 Olympics, while Estudillo — a springboard specialist — is new to platform diving.

two women with their swimming medals
Gabriela Agúndez and Alejandra Estudillo display their silver medals after finishing second in the women’s 10-meter synchronized platform diving event. (Conade/X)

Also on Monday, 21-year-old Osmar Olvera earned his third silver medal at this year’s World Aquatics Championships, as he and teammate Juan Celaya finished second in the 3-meter synchronized springboard diving event.

Over the weekend, Olvera won silver in the men’s 1-meter springboard competition and teamed up with Randal Willars, Zyanya Parra and Estudillo to claim silver in the Mixed Team diving event.

With the three medals earned thus far in Singapore, Olvera has firmly established himself as the leader of what is fast becoming Mexico’s most accomplished diving generation. The Mexico City native now has seven World Championship medals (one gold, five silver and one bronze) as well as a silver and bronze at the 2024 Olympics.

Olvera now has his sights set on surpassing Joaquín Capilla, Mexico’s best diver ever. With four Olympic medals, Capilla was the first Mexican athlete to win medals at multiple Games. Capilla won gold and bronze in 1956 in Sydney, silver in 1952 in Helsinki and bronze at the 1948 London Games.

“Los Angeles is three years away and this is a great way to start the road to the [2028] Olympics,” Olvera said, referring to the site of the 2028 Summer Olympic Games.

Olvera still has two events remaining in Singapore — the individual 3-meter springboard competition and the mixed synchronized springboard event.

Mexico’s performance in the Mixed Team event was the biggest surprise. Although Willars — an Olympian with five World Championship medals — and Estudillo are veterans on the world stage, Parra is a 15-year-old debutante.

Parra, who starred last year at the World Junior Diving Championships in Brazil, said her teammates helped make her comfortable during the event. 

“Osmar kept me calm the whole time and Randal shared tips with me to keep me from getting nervous,” she said.

Parra will be Olvera’s teammate in the mixed synchronized springboard competition.

Teen twins Mía and Lía Cueva will also be chasing a medal for Mexico, competing in the women’s synchronized 3-meter springboard event. The 14-year-olds teamed up to win silver at the World Aquatics Diving World Cup in Guadalajara in April. 

Artistic swimmer Diego Villalobos secured Mexico’s first medal at the World Aquatics Championships on July 20. The 20-year-old earned bronze in the men’s solo technical event at the Singapore Sports Hub, finishing just 13 points behind Russian gold medalist Aleksandr Maltsev.

The championships come to an end on Aug. 3.

With reports from La Jornada, El Universal and Riviera Maya News

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