Chinese pair Zhang Xinhua and Qin Kai led the way in qualifying for the men's 1m springboard diving competition at the FINA World Aquatics Championships in Rome yesterday.
Zhang and double world champion Qin were separated at the top of the rankings by American Chris Colwill, the only man who looked capable of matching the Chinese.
Zhang posted the highest points total of 416.10 with his best dive being a 79.90 score from a double somersault with half turn.
Colwill finished just 2.75 points behind in second while Qin, the world champion at 3m springboard and 3m synchronised was a further 1.35 pts adrift.
German Pavlo Rozenberg would have kept pace with the top three but for a poor fourth dive in which he scored just 37.50 points for his backward double somersault with half turn.
He finished fifth but posted the best single score of the preliminaries with an 81.60 for his fifth dive, a reverse double somersault with half turn.
Another whose final position was hurt by one bad dive was Britain's Peter Waterfield who finished 10th overall after he managed only 22.75 on his second dive, the second worst score of that round.
However, he still qualified for the final as one of the top 12, as did Australian Olympic 10m platform champion Matthew Mitcham.
He finished ninth overall with a score of 369.05 but needed a large improvement to get among the medals later yesterday.
China's star attraction will be four-time Olympic champion Guo Jingjing, the undisputed queen of the boards who will compete in her sixth, and possibly last, worlds.
She has won the 3m springboard and syncronised springboard double at the last four championships and will once again team with Wu Minxia as she looks to continue rewriting the record books.
"I love my career," said the 27-year-old glamour girl – the most decorated female Olympic diver – on why she was still in the sport.
"I've been diving for more than 20 years now, and I think that I've developed feelings and great interest for the sport, because each time I get on the spring board I just feel very, very happy."