The first men’s individual diving competition at the Paris Olympics will begin on Tuesday with the preliminary round of the 3m springboard event. Here's a look at how the competition works, schedule for all three rounds, and names to know.

Each individual diving competition will consist of three rounds. The prelims will feature 34 divers, with the top 18 moving on to the semifinals. From there, the top 12 will compete in the finals. Those tied for 18th or 12th will also move on. Scores do not carry over from round to round.

In the event of a tie among the top three at the end of the finals, multiple medals will be awarded. 

In springboard competition, divers will perform six dives, and must complete at least one dive from five different groups: Forward, backward, reverse, inward, and twisting. 

Divers are judged on starting position, approach, take-off, flight, and entry into water. Each dive is given a degree of difficulty before it is performed, but divers are judged regardless of how difficult the dive is. After each dive, seven judges give their score, with the two highest and two lowest discarded. The remaining scores are added, multiplied by the degree of difficulty, and boom. That’s how you get the score.

Preliminary round – Tuesday at 4 a.m.
Semifinals – Wednesday at 4 a.m.
Finals – Thursday at 9 a.m.

• The U.S. used to absolutely dominate this event, winning gold in all but two Olympics from 1920 to 1992. In fact, from 1920-1964 Americans won gold and silver each time. Until 1996, an American was always on the podium. That's when things changed; the U.S. has not won a medal in men's 3m springboard since.  
• In six Olympics since Atlanta, China has won gold five times, including the two most recent Games. Not only that, China has had two men on the podium in men’s springboard in three of the last four Olympics. 

• Xie Siyi (China)– Xie is part of China’s reign of dominance in this event after he won gold in Tokyo three years ago. The 28-year-old hasn’t won much since, but he did finish second at the most recent world championships.
• Wang Zongyuan (China) – This is who Xie finished second to at worlds this year. Wang, 22, already has a gold medal in Paris in the synchro springboard, and won the medal in individual springboard in Tokyo.
• Jack Laugher (Great Britain) – Laugher, 29, won bronze in the synchro springboard event last week, his fourth Olympic medal in four Games. In this event, he won bronze in Tokyo and silver in Rio in 2016, but most recently missed the semifinals at the 2024 worlds.
• Osmar Olvera Ibarra (Mexico) – Last week, Olvera won silver in the synchro springboard for Mexico’s first ever medal in the event. He’ll look to make more history in the individual event, because a Mexican has also not medaled in this since 2000. The 20-year-old competing in his second Olympics finished second in individual springboard at the 2023 worlds, and third at worlds earlier this year. 
• Andrew Capobianco (USA) – Capobianco, 24, is an Olympic silver medalist in the synchronized springboard at the 2020 Games, but he failed to qualify for the event this year. He’ll instead do the individual competition, where he’s the top U.S. diver. He finished fourth at the most recent world championships. 
• Carson Tyler – In his Olympic debut, Tyler is the first American man since 2000 to compete in both the individual springboard and platform events. The 20-year-old is stronger on the platform, where he’s a two-time NCAA champion at Indiana University and a world bronze medalist in the mixed synchro (an event not held at the Olympics). In the springboard, Tyler finished 31st at the 2022 world championships. 
• Jules Bouyer (France) – France’s best chance at a medal in the event at its home Olympics, Bouyer finished fifth at the world championships this year.