Diving Ōtākou athletes Lyvia Nilsen, Elizabeth Dearden, Lucia Luxton, Archie Vorgers and Flynn MacGill-Brown are travelling abroad next week to attend the Dubai International Aquatics Championships.
The divers will compete as part of the Diving New Zealand team at the event.
Younger Diving Ōtākou athletes Lucy Thickpenny, Ella Appleton, Amelie Harrop and Caitlin Lill will travel next month to Australia’s Gold Coast to compete in the 2025 Australian Age Diving Championships.
Diving Ōtākou head coach Connie Deighton said she was proud of all the athletes, all nine of whom were selected for the Diving New Zealand team in their age categories.
For her younger athletes heading to the Gold Coast, they will compete in the one metre, three metre, platform and synchronised events.
"They have really developed, those four."
Nine divers from across the country were representing New Zealand in Dubai, so for five of them to be from Dunedin was an "awesome milestone", she said.
"They have done amazing, they have all worked so hard the last year, I don’t even think we would have considered an international competition of this scale last year, but they have just worked so hard and got all these new dives and [are] scoring much better.
"They all train four to five days a week, I would say they are basically dedicating everything to their sport at that age and that level.
"They eat, sleep, breathe diving."
All nine athletes will also take part in the Otago Dive Championships this weekend.
"[It] is the first competition of our diving season, and so a good chance for our beginning competitive divers to compete, but also our elite divers to showcase their skills before heading off internationally."
