Te Arawa’s Anton Down-Jenkins will lead Aotearoa in the dive pool at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham next month.
The 22-year-old finished eighth in the 3-metre springboard at his first Olympic Games last year in Tokyo and will compete in the same event in July. He'll also rejoin Liam Stone to compete in the 3-metre synchronised, in which they finished eighth at the previous Commonwealth Games across the Tasman on the Gold Coast.
Down-Jenkins is excited to have a second stint at the games.
“We’ve got a really big team and so much young talent coming through. I think this is going to be a really big stepping stone for diving as a sport in New Zealand, especially leading into the next Olympic Games.
“I’m super excited that I get to have this experience with so many of my friends and fellow athletes.”
Down-Jenkins and Stone are the only experienced members in the diving squad while the other six (a new record reached with eight members in the team) will make their Commonwealth Games debut.
“I feel like it’s less of a mentorship and more of a whānau type of situation.”
Despite gaining a lot of confidence from his impressive showing in Tokyo last year, ending as the 2nd best commonwealth competitor, Anton knows he has to work hard to come back with a medal.
“I’m not going to go into it thinking ‘I finished second-best last year’, I’m just going to clear all of that out and think ‘I’m starting in last place’. So I’ve got to work just as hard, if not harder, than anyone if I want to get the same or similar results.”