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Straits Times
08-07-2025
- Sport
- Straits Times
Precision-built high diving and open water venues at Sentosa ready for World Aquatics C'ships
SINGAPORE – Other than the integrated resort, theme parks and sandy beaches, visitors to Sentosa now have a new attraction to marvel at, following the completion of a 37m-high diving tower, the first of its kind in Singapore, ahead of the July 11-Aug 3 World Aquatics Championships (WCH) . At Palawan Green on July 7, the organisers gave the media a tour of the high diving and open water swimming facilities, which had passers-by whispering in awe and curiosity. As befitting of a daredevil sport which requires male athletes to hurl themselves off a 27m platform and female competitors to take a plunge from 20m before entering a 6m-deep cylindrical pool at speeds of up to 85kmh, the temporary high diving structure required precision engineering from its makers. Six metres from the ground, the giant pool with a 17m diameter opens at a deck that accommodates about 600 spectators when the high diving competition takes place from July 24 to 27. Marcus Ng, project director of Innovez Engineering – the firm behind the pool's construction – shared that 108 curved steel panels, weighing a total of 21 tonnes, were held together by 6,400 bolts using a digital torque wrench to form the cylindrical pool. The plates were assembled upwards one metre at a time, as the pool is gradually filled and stress-tested to ensure the water pressure does not affect the integrity of the structure. Ng, a national water polo player from 2001 to 2006, said: 'Other high diving pools are also of this shape. Instead of a rectangular pool, a circular shape is the most effective and efficient in terms of structure and material, and for us to build and tear it down fast. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore NDP celebrations to be held at 5 heartland sites, including Bishan and Punggol, on Aug 10 Singapore NDP 2025: Tank that bumped into traffic light lost steering and braking power due to faulty part Singapore SIA flight from Brisbane to Singapore diverted to Perth due to technical issue Singapore New Draft Master Plan could reignite developers' interest to buy land Singapore AI cannot supplant learning, it must enable it: Desmond Lee Business ShopBack to scale up its payments business as it gets major payment institution licence Asia China warns Trump on tariffs, threatens retaliation on supply chain deals Multimedia 'I suspect he's cheating': She finds proof when spouses stray 'Every steel panel had to be exactly the same, because if one panel is off, the whole pool would fail. We also have to ensure the bolts are not screwed on too tight that the panels would crack, or too loose such that there would be leaks. And of course, we have to make sure the water is crystal clear, well balanced and clean for the divers.' Just a stone's throw away is the open water swimming venue, where a 1,500 sq m pontoon has been set up for seven lung-busting events from July 15 to 20. The pontoon for the open water diving events at the World Aquatics Championships in Sentosa. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG Athletes will make six loops round the 1.66km course for the men and women's 10km races and three laps for the 5km races. The course will be reconfigured to 1.5km, 1km and 500m loops for the men's and women's 3km sprint knockout races, while there is also a 4x1.5km team event. Palawan Green will also host the July 26-27 open water swimming events for the World Aquatics Masters Championships from July 26 to Aug 22. Kenza Brouwer, assistant venue manager for Sentosa Island events at the WCH and course officer for open water swimming, said: 'In preparation for the competition, we have been closely monitoring the water conditions, including water quality tests for bacteria and water temperature. 'We want to make sure that the athletes are swimming in a safe environment. Of course, it's open water swimming, and there's only so much we can control, but we will do our best to ensure the athletes' safety. We will have contingency plans in place for all wet weather scenarios.' Mark Chay, co-chairman of the WCH Singapore 2025 organising committee, thanked the various stakeholders and government agencies for helping to get all the venues ready, with the OCBC Aquatic Centre welcoming the water polo (July 11-24) and diving (July 26-Aug 3) competitions, and the WCH Arena set to host the artistic swimming (July 18-25) and swimming (July 27-Aug 3) events. Adding that the venues will continue to be monitored and improved throughout, he said: 'We will get feedback and work on it, and we expect to touch up all the way even during the events to make sure it's a great experience for everyone. 'There are very few events bigger than this, but these will put us in good stead to host more international events. We hope to groom the next generation of athletes and also Singaporeans who are able to host such events.'
CNA
07-07-2025
- Sport
- CNA
Sentosa competition venues ready ahead of World Aquatics Championships
SINGAPORE: A 37m-tall metal tower stands a stone's throw away from the white sands of Palawan Beach on Sentosa island. At its foot is a circular blue pool 17m in diameter and 6m in depth. Next to the structure, a blue pontoon stretches from the shore out onto the water, as huge vessels sit in Singapore's famed anchorage in the background. Four days away from the World Aquatics Championships, the Sentosa competition venues for high diving and open water swimming are ready to welcome the world's top athletes. The Championships, which features the six sports of swimming, water polo, diving, artistic swimming, open water swimming and high diving, will be held from Jul 11 to Aug 3. Singapore will send its largest contingent to the competition this year, with a total of 72 athletes across five disciplines. FIRST TIME IN SOUTHEAST ASIA Mr Mark Chay, co-chairperson of the championships' organising committee, noted on Monday (Jul 7) that the high diving tower is the first such structure to be built in Southeast Asia. Male competitors will dive from 27m, while their female counterparts will dive from 20m, he said. Mr Marcus Ng, project director at Innovez Engineering that built the dive pool, said that while it looks like a regular pool from the outside, it is anything but. For one, the 21-tonne steel pool is made of 108 panels held together by 6,400 bolts. When filling it up with water, the depth meant that 'there's a huge force that's pushing out on every panel', said Mr Ng. 'So what we did was we monitored the panels down to the millimetre every day, and the expansion was exactly to our engineers' design. So we're very happy with that,' he said. Mr Ng noted that the request was for the temporary pool to be installed quickly, and also dismantled quickly afterward. It took about a month for the pool to be installed, from its main structure to the blue PVC liner, said Mr Ng. When CNA visited the venue in late June, the high diving tower had already been completed, with workers in the process of filling up the dive pool. Speaking to CNA on the scaffold deck towering 6m above ground, Mr Harry Yap, the venue manager for the championships' Sentosa events, said that all that was left to be done was 'touch-up work'. This includes anti-slip material to be laid on the dive platforms, completion of wheelchair ramps and putting up of panels on the scaffolding. To get the venue to where it is, Mr Yap said that a professional engineer had to be engaged to work out structural elements and loading capacity based on specifications from World Aquatics. 'Once we got this design and drawing, we also had to go through government bodies to get these things passed in order to ensure the safety of these structures,' he added. Construction of the venue started less than three months prior. 'One of the challenges was also the tight timeline to construct this place starting from the 14th April. So, big credit to the contractors to be able to keep to a very strict timeline,' said Mr Yap. The filling of the dive pool was to ensure that there are no leaks and take preemptive measures should any issues arise, he added. On competition day, there will be a team of medical and safety professionals on site, said Mr Yap. 'In the pool itself, we will have two to three scuba divers, who will act as a lifeguard. On the pool deck itself, there will also be paramedics available,' he said. MONITORING WATER QUALITY Ms Kenza Brouwer, assistant venue manager for the championships' Sentosa events and course officer for open water swimming, said on Monday that much work has gone into preparations for the event. Her team will be marking the course in the water on Tuesday, for the races which range in distance from 3km to 10km. 'We've been closely monitoring the water conditions, including water quality tests for bacteria, and water temperature,' she said. Ms Brouwer added that measures are being taken to ensure that athletes are swimming in a safe environment. 'Of course, it's open water swimming. There's only so much we can control. But everything that we can do to best ensure the athlete's safety, will be taken,' she said. Mr Chay called the Sentosa venues 'fantastic'. One challenge of organising the 'massive event' is the coordination required by different stakeholders, he said. 'We're very fortunate to have great coordination with a lot of agencies in Singapore. The different government agencies have been extremely helpful across the different areas that we need to think about,' said Mr Chay. He added that the competition venues and the running of the events were planned such that they were smooth and athlete-centric. The organising committee decided to cluster the events in three venues — Sentosa, the OCBC Aquatic Centre and the World Aquatics Championships Arena — to provide a great experience to both athletes and spectators alike, said Mr Chay.
