The 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha are nearly upon us - and for the first time in more than a decade, British Swimming fans can prepare to see GB representation across all six aquatic disciplines on show at the event as the Olympic Games moves ever closer.
With Paris 2024 now less than six months away, the Doha World Championships provides a crucial opportunity for many looking to secure Olympic quota spots or build towards the Games at this time of the season. For others, facing off against international rivals from across the globe will be a key moment of competition in the lead-up to selection events over the coming months.
Below is a rundown of everything you need to know across the programmes of diving, marathon swimming, artistic swimming, water polo, swimming and high diving, with 16 days of intensity and entertainment set to splash into action from Friday 2nd-Sunday 18th February.
WHERE TO WATCH AND HOW TO FOLLOW
Every session from every sport in Doha will be available to watch live via the Eurovision Sport website and app
We will be signposting to the various livestreams across British Swimming social media channels throughout the duration of the World Championships. Follow us on Instagram and X (Twitter) now.
EVENT LINKS
DIVING (2nd-10th February)
Britain's divers have already secured nine of the 12 Olympic quota spots available ahead of February's World Championships, off the back of some outstanding displays across last year's Worlds in Japan and the European Games in Poland.
The focus in Doha will be on ensuring a clean sweep of places are locked in for Team GB in Paris. The remaining quota places to be qualified are in the Men's 10m Synchro, and one apiece in the Women's 3m Springboard and Men's 3m Springboard.
Tom Daley's first international competition off the platforms since his double-medal display at Tokyo 2020 sees him team up with 2022 World Champs medallist Noah Williams in the Men's 10m Synchro, while Grace Reid and Yasmin Harper are going in the women's indivdual 3m springboard contest, with Jack Laugher - with four Worlds medals to his name over the last 18 months - and Ross Haslam in the men's equivalent.
Aside from those events, the British cohort will again look to challenge for podium places across the board - including looking to build on the trio of synchro silvers won in Fukuoka. Laugher and Anthony Harding (Men's 3m Synchro), Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson (Women's 10m Synchro) and Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen (Women's 3m Synchro) are all together and ready to go for silverware again at the Aspire Dome, while Williams and Kyle Kothari played their part in an unforgettable Men's 10m Platform final last summer and will be hopeful of strong showings again.
Full diving team news and event information here.
SWIMMING (11th-18th February)
Picking up straight after the diving programme finishes, a 20-strong British Swimming team will begin a crucial six-month run-in to the Olympic Games in Doha.
The primary focus for the GB outfit in Doha is securing relay team quota places for Paris 2024, with the make-up of the team competing in Qatar set to maximise the chances of ensuring those lanes are booked for July, as well as ensuring some valuable performance opportunities in the international arena for those involved, ahead of April's British Swimming Championships - the selection event for the Olympic Games - and the Games themselves in July and August.
Adam Peaty is back in a British cap and will be in action alongside James Wilby in the Men's 100m Breaststroke on day one of the swimming programme (Sunday 11th February), with Abbie Wood kicking off the GB involvement in the Women's 200m Individual Medley and Jack McMillan contesting the Men's 400m Freestyle.
In total, nine medallists from last year's Worlds in Fukuoka are selected and will be involved in Doha. The opening night could see several of those 2023 title winners in the water, as the Men's 4x100m Freestyle Relay team look to secure a Paris spot and lay down an early-season marker in the process.
Full swimming team news and event information here.
MARATHON SWIMMING (3rd-8th February)
A quartet of Olympic quota spots will be up for grabs across the Women's 10km and Men's 10km events, as Amber Keegan, Leah Crisp, Hector Pardoe and Toby Robinson prepare to take to the Doha Old Port course over the weekend of Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th February.
![Amber Keegan Fukuoka 2023 [Getty]](https://www.aquaticsgb.com/media/images/F1SraanagAAAjxY.width-300.jpg)
Up first will be Keegan and Crisp, who both made their World Champs debuts in the marathon events at last year's contest in Fukuoka. On the back of that, Pardoe - who was 10th in the men's 10km in Fukuoka and seventh in the overall World Cup rankings for 2023 - and third-time Worlds appearance maker Robinson will be in action.
Team GB can still qualify two Olympic quota spots on both the women's and men's sides for the 10km events at Paris 2024. The top 13 finishers in Doha - notwithstanding the three medallists from each event at the last World Championships - will obtain a quota place for their National Olympic Committee.
Full marathon swimming team news and event information here.
ARTISTIC SWIMMING (2nd-10th February)
Olympic qualification is the name of the game for artistic swimming duo Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe in Doha as well.
After successive World Championships in 2022 and 2023 that featured full artistic teams from Great Britain, this year's event will see only Shortman and Thorpe travelling to the global contest as they look to secure Team GB's place in the artistic swimming programme for Paris, just as they did in Tokyo three years previous.
The Bristol-based duo will look to produce eye-catching performances across the Tech Duet (prelims - 2nd February; final - 5th February) and Free Duet (prelims - 7th February; final - 8th February), from which their scores are combined, to claim one of several remaining quota places not taken by duets already qualified through Team spots or duets to have won the five continental Championships. Exactly how many quota spots will be available across the duet competition will become clearer as the World Championships progress.
WATER POLO (2nd-17th February)
On the back of a superb performance at the European Water Polo Championships in Eindhoven to kickstart 2024, Britain's women's water polo team are gearing up for their first World Championship appearance since 2013.
The 13-strong team heading to Doha will have a target of bettering the 13th-placed finish they recorded in Barcelona 11 years ago - and a top-three finish in their group would guarantee that they place inside the top 12.
GB have been drawn in Group D alongside 2023 World Championship bronze medallists Italy, Worlds ever-presents Canada and South Africa - who have already booked their place at this summer's Olympic Games in Paris. Things get underway on Sunday 4th February against the Italians.
HIGH DIVING (13th-15th February)
Aidan Heslop's World Championship debut in Fukuoka last year saw him complete the hardest dive ever competed at a Worlds event - and he ultimately just missed out on the podium after a strong showing.
He will again be in action in the Men's 27m event, as he looks to follow on from placing second in the Red Bull Cliff Diving series.
The first two dives take place at the Old Doha Port on Tuesday 13th February, before the final rounds two days later.