Rockford native wins 3 more diving titles on the path toward the 2024 Olympics in Paris
Josh Hedberg continued his path toward the 2024 Olympics in Paris by dominating everyone in his age group at the USA Diving Junior National Championships in Midland, Texas.
Next up for the Rockford native is taking on the best in the world in the 14-15 age bracket at the FINA Junior Worlds in Montreal in November.
And even that is a step down for Hedberg, who grew up in Belvidere before moving to Noblesville, Indiana, to be near world-class diving facilities. The Hedbergs moved after Josh’s older brother, Jacob, a four-time state diving medalist, graduated from Belvidere North in 2018.
Josh Hedberg won the 10-meter platform with 508.90 points. Second place was a distant 348.15. He also won the 3-meter and 1-meter springboard titles. He now has eight career Junior National titles, including also sweeping all three in 2018 in the 11-year-old bracket.
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“It means a lot,” Hedberg said in a phone interview after winning his final event Tuesday. “I have been mostly on platform for Worlds, so I haven’t been training on springboard until the last few months. It felt good to show what I can do on platform and springboard.
“I wasn’t focused on the winning part. I was focused on doing each dive to the best of my ability, making sure most of my dives were in the 8 or above range in scores from each judge.”
Hedberg, who trains five hours a day five days a week, has been taking on the best divers of all ages the last couple of years. He finished fourth at the Olympic Trials in 2020, where he recorded the only perfect 10 with one of his dives.
Going to Montreal will be his first Junior World competition, but he finished 11th at the World Championships for all ages in early July in Budapest. He was the youngest U.S. male diver to ever qualify for Worlds.
More on Josh Hedberg:This Rockford native is the youngest USA men's diver to make World Championships
“It was a great atmosphere,” Hedberg said. “It was really cool. I know this is what it’s going to be like at the Olympics, the same kind of divers. It was cool to compete against them.”
Hedberg won the 3-meter springboard event with a score of 507.95. Second place was 431.30. Hedberg won the 1-meter springboard with a score of 413.05.
The top two in each event advanced to Junior Worlds.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Rockford native Josh Hedberg wins USA diving titles, eyes Olympics
