Nikita Hains

Nikita Hains (born 2 November 2000)[1] is an Australian diver who competes in the 10m individual events, as well as the 10m synchronised.[2]

Nikita Hains
Personal information
NationalityAustralian
Born (2000-02-14) 14 February 2000
Perth, Western Australia
Sport
SportDiving
Event(s)10 metre springboard

Early life

Hains was born in Perth, Western Australia.[3] She started out as a gymnast in her hometown of Perth at age 3. She transitioned from gymnastics into the sport of diving at age 13 and made her international debut just two years later.[4]

Hains previously trained as a member of the Western Australian Institute of Sport. She was nominated for WAIS Junior Athlete of the Year in 2016, which was won by Tamsin Cook.[5][6][7]

Early success prompted her to move to Adelaide to train at the National Training Centre in 2019 under coach Rick Schavone where she joined the South Australian Sports Institute.[4] She was awarded a Tier 2 Scholarship within the 2022 Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship and Mentoring Program. She is currently enrolled at the University of Adelaide pursuing a Bachelor of Biomedical Science degree.[4][8]

Career

Hains focusses primarily on the 10m platform individual and synchronised disciplines. She has won more than 10 international medals between 2016 and 2020, as well as national titles in 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022.[4][8]

Hains, first senior international competition was in 2016 where she competed at the 2016 FINA Diving Grand Prix 2016, Leg 8 in Singapore. She won bronze in the women’s 10 metre platform behind Japan's Nana Sasaki and Matsuri Arai.[9] In the women's 10m synchronised session, she won silver alongside Tamara Irvine.[10]

In August 2018, despite qualifying for the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics slated for November, Hains withdrew from the competition to focus on her Western Australian Certificate of Education exams.[11]

In November 2019, Hains placed third and earned a bronze medal in the 2019 FINA Diving Grand Prix 2019 - Leg 7 in Gold Coast, Australia. In December 2019, during the 2019 Oceania Championships, New Zealand, she won gold in the 10m individual platform.[12] She dominated the competition with a score of 286.1 points n the preliminary round before producing 270.7 points in the final to take the title ahead of New Zealand duo Mikali Dawson and Alyssa Bond.[13]

With the gold medal she earned Australia an Olympic quota in the women's 10m platform at the Tokyo Olympic Games.[13]

In July 2019, Hains competed at the 30th Summer Universiade in Naples, Italy.[14]

Due to COVID-19 the Australian team withdrew from the qualification event for Tokyo Olympics games and therefore could not qualify for any synchronised event, which prevented Nikita from competing in the 10m platform synchronised event.[15][16]

Hains won silver in the individual platform and bronze in the 10m platform synchronised event at the 2020 FINA Diving Grand Prix, Madrid Spain.[17] The results propelled for the Aussies Olympic Trial where a personal best earned her selection for the Tokyo Olympic Games. At Tokyo Olympics she placed 21st in the 10m Platform.[15][18]

In June 2022, Hains won gold in the 10m women’s platform and silver in 10m platform synchronised in the Australian Diving Championships to secure a spot at the 2022 FINA World Championships and 2022 Commonwealth Games, her debut games.[19][20][21] The following week, Hains won bronze in the women's 10m synchronized at the FINA Diving Grand Prix in Calgary, Canada competing along with Emily Boyd.[22]

Personal life

Hains aspires to become a doctor after completing her Bachelor of Biomedical Science at the University of Adelaide.[4][8]

References
  1. "Nikita Hains | NBC Olympics". www.nbcolympics.com. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  2. "Nikita Hains Results | Commonwealth Games Australia". Commonwealth Games Australia. 6 June 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  3. "Bio: Nikita Hains". Diving Australia. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  4. "Nikita Hains | Sport Australia Hall of Fame". Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  5. "Women's Sport Dominates Junior Athlete of the Year Field : Archive Page : The University of Western Australia". www.news.uwa.edu.au. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  6. "Hains shortlisted for 2016 WAIS Junior Athlete of the Year Award". Western Australia Diving. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  7. "SASI - SASI divers announced in Australian team for FINA World Championships". www.sasi.sa.gov.au. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  8. "Nikita Hains Results | Commonwealth Games Australia". commonwealthgames.com.au. 6 June 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  9. "Sasaki secures gold at FINA Diving Grand Prix in Singapore". www.insidethegames.biz. 5 November 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  10. "Japan earn three titles on final day in Singapore as FINA Diving Grand Prix season concludes". www.insidethegames.biz. 6 November 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  11. Lim, Kristie (27 August 2018). "Dianella diver Nikita Hains opts out of Youth Olympics to focus on WACE exams". Perth Now. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  12. "Australians dominate day one of Oceania Diving Championships". Inside The Games. 14 December 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  13. "Nikita Hains wins 10m platform gold at Oceania Championships". WAIS. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  14. 杨懿. "Athletes compete in diving matches at 30th Summer Universiade - Xinhua | English.news.cn". www.xinhuanet.com. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  15. "Hains leans on Olympics experience ahead of three key meets". The West Australian. 16 May 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  16. Gaitaneris, Rebecca (21 June 2022). "Bold in gold: Aussie diver using Tokyo Olympics experience as a springboard for success at Commonwealth Games". The Inner Sanctum. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  17. "American women bag double gold on final day of FINA Diving Grand Prix". www.insidethegames.biz. 16 February 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  18. "Nikita Hains Olympic Profile". Olympics. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  19. "Nikita Hains and Maddison Kenney win national titles and earn selection for 2022 World Championships". WAIS. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  20. "Maddison Kenney selected for third Games and Nikita Hains to make Commonwealth Games debut". WAIS. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  21. "Hains and Keeney take on the world". The West Australian. 7 June 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  22. "Borowski wins gold, Boyle silver at FINA Diving Grand Prix Canada Cup". University of Texas Athletics. Retrieved 10 January 2023.


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