Evgenii Kuznetsov: We wanted to show our best dive in Kazan, but the coaches advised us not to

"You can get a new partner every new tournament, and my new partner here is very easy to work with. Yes, we've had strong competitors, the Mexicans, the Russians, the British, but we proved that we deserve to be the best. And for that I am very grateful to Cao Yuan, a very comfortable partner to dive with. I would like to note that the other teams are catching up, but I hope we will have another talented generation of athletes in China as well," said Kai Qin.

"I am very happy and excited at the same time, because this is my first World Championships. I am very grateful to my partner Kai Qin for the support he has given me during this whole time. He gave me the support I needed to relax and give my 100% despite the intense competition," Kai's partner diver, Cao Yuan, said.

"We are satisfied with our silver medal, although we targeted at gold in Kazan. A couple of our dives went wrong. It's okay, we still have time before the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Was there too much strain on us? We are fine, just bad luck today. Everybody wants to win, and there are moments when you don't get it. Was it easier to perform at domestic championships? Home is always the best place to compete, but we appreciate the audience here very much and are pleased to be here," said Ilia Zakharov, the silver medallist of the 2015 FINA World Championships.

"We were ready to execute a dive with a 3.9 degree of difficulty, but our coaches talked us out of it shortly before the competitions.  We decided to keep the latest programme and not make any changes to it. Ilia and I wanted to show this dive again in Kazan, where we both started to perform as partners. We were all for it, but our experienced coaches advised us not to," Evgenii Kuznetsov explained.

"Of course, we are very pleased with the result. Last time Chris had a spinal injury, and we were unable to show our best. This is our first medal at the World Championships. And I think this is a great result," said Jack Laugher.

"Yes, we are very glad. It was great to be on the podium with my best friend and partner Jack Lauger and be awarded with a medal. Last time I had an injury, but now it's OK and I am happy that we won the bronze medal and got qualified for the Olympic Games," Chris Mears concluded. 

Press Office of Organising Committee for 16th FINA World Championships