Mexico has long excelled in diving, and the latest gold-medal triumph of the 14-year-old Cueva twins from the Bajío state of Jalisco demonstrates the country’s potential.
Mexican divers finished their participation in the 2026 Zapopan Diving Cup, held between July 16 and 19, with 10 medals: three gold, four silver and three bronze. Mía and Lía Cueva Lobato defeated Chinese partners Shan Lin and Yiping Long to win gold in the synchronized 3-meter springboard final, marking the first time the duo had defeated Chinese competitors in an international competition.
Mexico’s Rut Páez and Yunuen Parra finished in fourth place in the same event.
“I felt very happy,” said Lía Cueva after receiving her gold medal. “It’s the first time we’ve beaten the Chinese, and it gives us a lot of motivation to do it again at the Olympic Games.”
“We know we still have a lot of work to do, but I’m convinced that we will continue training very hard so that results like this… become more and more frequent and visible,” added Mía Cueva. “They can expect us at the Olympic Games.”
The win followed previous success at the World Aquatics Diving World Cup in Jalisco’s capital of Guadalajara, held in April 2025, in which the Cueva twins took silver in the women’s 3-meter synchronized springboard final.
Meanwhile, Mexicans Randal Willars and Kevin Berlín delivered a strong performance on the men’s synchronized 10-meter platform, beating Great Britain and Colombia to take the gold medal, with a score of 414.72 points.
In the women’s 10-meter platform event, Mexico’s Suri Cueva took the silver medal, with 303.10 points, while Samantha Jiménez took bronze with 302.15 points. China’s Zhixin Qu took first place with 369.40 points.
The Metropolitan Aquatic Center hosted representatives from nine countries in preparation for the Santo Domingo 2026 Central American and Caribbean Games, to be held from July 24 to August 8. On Monday, President Sheinbaum presided over an official send-off for the more than 600 athletes who will compete across disciplines including diving, archery, gymnastics, boxing and more.
With reports from Cronica and Grupo Animal
