Australian Open Diving Championships: Melissa Wu and Charli Petrov injury setbacks

Australian diving duo Melissa Wu and Charli Petrov have suffered setbacks on the path to Paris as the veteran of the pair continues to be plagued by a reality TV injury.

The road to the Paris Olympics won’t be easy for star diving duo Melissa Wu and Charli Petrov with back injuries ruling both of them out of the World Championships.

Wu, Australia’s most successful diver, has been battling her back injury since late 2021, after winning bronze in the 10M platform in Tokyo.

She sustained the injury, which could have ended her career, while filming SAS Australia.

Petrov has been out of the water since April with a back injury as well.

It was Wu’s injury that forced her to swap the individual platform event for the synchronised one – as the required dive difficulty is lower.

Wu and Petrov, who was just 14, were paired four months out from the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Melissa Wu and Charli Petrov. Picture: Michael Klein

It proved the perfect match with the duo winning gold in the 10M platform.

Post Commonwealth Games the pair had been hard at work preparing for Paris – even travelling interstate for several training camps.

“Before I even started diving I wanted to be an Olympian. I just wasn’t sure what sport,” Petrov said.

“I’m working insanely hard to get to that point.

“It was a tough decision but I decided to just work on my synchro with Mel and get one event right and then work on my individual dives in the future.”

They had planned to compete at this week’s Australian Championships in Perth and qualify for the Worlds, to be held in Japan in July, but with Petrov injured and Wu experiencing niggling back pain they decided to withdraw.

With the Olympics just a little more than 12 months away and little international competition between Wu and Petrov won’t have many chances to get their groove back on the big stage.

“We have been named the rehab queens,” Petrov said.

Australia's Charli Petrov and Australia's Melissa Wu compete in the women's synchronised 10m platform diving final at the Commonwealth Games.

“It is unfortunate that we are going to miss Worlds but it is good we are both injured at the same time.”

It is the longest Petrov has been out of the water since she took up the sport when she was six-years-old.

“It is weird being out of the water,” she said.

“But injuries are part of being an athlete. I need to fix the issue and let it heal before we can start getting back to the standard we were at the Commonwealth Games.”

The gold Commonwealth Games medal is daily motivation for Petrov to stick with the rehab and keep her eyes set on the Paris Olympics.

Petrov and Wu’s next chance to perform on a world stage will be at the 2024 World Aquatic Championships in February. Olympic selections are due to be held in April.

Originally published as Australian Open Diving Championships: Melissa Wu and Charli Petrov injury setbacks