The women's synchronized 3m springboard finals will kick off the diving competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Here's what to know and who to watch.

All synchronized diving events in the Paris Games consist of just one round of competition with eight teams. 

Each team will do five dives. Two must have a degree of difficult of 2.0, and the other three have no difficulty limit.

Eleven judges will score competitors on starting position, approach, take-off, flight, entry into the water, and synchronization. Scores are added together and multiplied by the degree of difficulty for each dive.

The team with the highest score at the end wins gold. In the event of a tie, multiple medals will be awarded.

• Chang Yani/Chen Yiwen (China)
• Kassidy Cook/Sarah Bacon (USA)
• Yasmin Harper/Scarlett Mew Jensen (Great Britain)
• Elena Bertocchi/Chiara Pellacani (Italy)
• Anabelle Smith/Maddison Keeney (Australia)
• Lena Hentschel/Jette Muller (Germany)
• Anna Pysmenska/Viktoriya Kesar (Ukraine)
• Nais Gillet/Juliette Landi (France)

The Chinese duo of Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen are the heavy favorites to win, for good reason. The two have not lost a world diving event since 2022, winning gold at the 2022, 2023, and 2024 World Championships. They’ve been diving together since 2021, and both are making their Olympic debuts. 

They’ll individually compete in the solo springboard events, where they’re also expected to finish 1-2. Chen, 25, won gold in the individual springboard at the 2023 and 2022 World Championships, and Chang, 22, won gold in the solo springboard at this year’s Worlds.

Team “Cook’N Bacon” will take to the boards to represent the U.S. Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook are expected to compete for a medal, which would be a first for the U.S. in this event since 2012. 

The two finished fourth at the 2023 World Championships.

Bacon, 27, is making her Olympic debut. She will also compete in the individual springboard competition.

Cook, 29, is competing in her second Olympics. She missed out on the Tokyo Games, but competed in the individual springboard event in 2016 in Rio.

- The Australian duo of Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith won bronze at the 2016 Rio Games, but missed out on the podium in Tokyo. They won silver at this year’s World Championships, and bronze at the 2023 Worlds.

- Scarlett Mew Jensen and Yasmin Harper, of Great Britain, won silver at the 2023 Worlds, and have an outside chance at a medal in Paris.

- Germany’s Lena Hentschel and Jette Muller also have an outside chance. Hentschel is the defending Olympic bronze medalist with a different partner.

- The French team of Nais Gillet and Juliette Landi are not expected to compete for a medal, but they could have a high-profile cheering section. Landi’s parents, Cecile Landi and Laurent Landi, are gymnastics coaches (and coach Team USA’s Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles). Since the women’s gymnastics competition doesn’t start until the day after the synchro springboard finals, the Landis are expected to attend their daughter’s diving event.

The women’s synchro springboard finals will begin at 5 a.m. on Saturday, July 27. They will air on NBC and stream on Peacock.