Kurtis Mathews

Sydney diver Kurtis Mathews might have been a swimmer if it wasn’t for a coach who noticed something unusual about him as a youngster.

Ten-year-old Kurtis and his family were living in Perth when the coach spotted his acrobatic skills.

“He was taking standard swimming lessons when his swim instructor suggested to us that he look at diving due to his natural flexibility and acrobatic skills,” his mother Keryl said.

“He took a week-long ‘learn to dive’ holiday program and loved it.”

Kurtis was quickly picked up by Diving Australia’s National Talent Identification Program and when he was 12 the family moved to Queensland so he could train in the high-performance program in Brisbane.

As a teenager, he first made his mark in the American college system, giving Texas A&M University their first ever NCAA diving titles, winning both the 1m and 3m competitions at the 2022 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. Kurtis studied biomedical science at the university.

After competing at his first Commonwealth Games on home soil in 2018, Kurtis was named in the Australian senior team for the world championships in Doha in 2024, partnering with Tokyo Olympian Sam Fricker in the men’s 3m springboard synchronised event. He also competed in the individual 1m and 3m springboard events.

Kurtis nailed down his place at the Paris Olympics when he held off Tokyo Olympian Shixin Li in the 3m springboard at the Australian championships and nomination trials in Adelaide in June 2024.
His final score of 1402.15 put him 98.5 points ahead of Shixin.