Diving World Championships 2013: Previewing Remaining Finals in Barcelona

Outside of the Olympics, there are no bigger events in the world of competitive diving than the Diving World Championships. With just four days left for competitors to add to their respective country's medal count in Barcelona, the action is sure to get even more intense. 

China has already dominated through the first five days of competition. Heading into Thursday's competition they've earned five of the six gold medals up for grabs and lead the table with seven total medals, per FINA.

At this point, China's domination of the board is fairly evident, but there are still four more events that have yet to play out that will either see them expand their lead throughout the week or if the gap can be narrowed by other countries. 

Let's take a look at the remaining finals. A complete schedule can be found on FINA's site. 

Women's 10-meter Platform

With all of the synchronized events now completed, the focus of the championships will now shift to individuals, and that begins with the women's 10-meter platform final. 

If Thursday's preliminaries and semifinal are any indication, it should be a close competition. The starting list includes contenders such as China's Si Tajie and Chen Ruolin, who will be considered favorites to keep their country's streak of dominance alive. 

However, they'll face strong challenges from Great Britain's Tonia Couch, who posted the second-highest score in the semifinals at 368.15 and Malaysia's Pandelela Rinong, who finished No. 2 in the preliminary round. 

Si and Chen may have won the prelims and semifinal respectively, but they aren't invincible. Either Couch or Rinong are capable of beating them in any given round, and this could be the place for an upset. 

Men's 3-meter Springboard

One of the most electrifying events in the competition, the men's three-meter springboard is going to provide fans with plenty of entertainment as He Chong returns to defend his FINA title from the 2011 championships in Shanghai. 

Defending that title won't be an easy task. 

He was a bronze medalist in the event in the 2012 Olympic games and both the silver medalist (Qin Kai) and gold medalist (Ilya Zakharov) are on the starting list for the event. 

This should be a tightly contested fight between the three Olympic medalists throughout the prelims, semfinal and final. 

Women's 3-meter Springboard

For the first time in years, there's some real mystery involved as to who will win the Women's individual three-meter springboard. 

Reigning world champion and Olympic gold medalist Wu Minxia is not on the starting list for the event and thus leaves the race for the gold wide open. 

China isn't without contenders, though. Both He Zi and Wang Han will represent the country after earning gold and bronze respectively in the one-meter event earlier in the week. However, silver medalist Tania Cagnotto will also be in the hunt. 

Men's 10-meter Platform

Wrapping up the international event on Sunday will be the men's individual 10-meter platform. 

The synchronized version of this event gave us the first real upset of the week when Germany became the first country to beat China for a gold medal. Representing Germany in the starting list for the event will be Sascha Klein and Patrick Hausding, who formed the team that took gold. 

Russia will also have a strong presence in the finale. Victor Minibaev was one half of the team that took the silver medal in the synchronized event and should have a strong showing as an individual.