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By Samuel Zito

22nd December 2009 11:05:12 AM

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Great dive … Kahlia Warner continues to make a splash in diving circles and will head to Sydney next month to compete in the Australian Open Diving Championships. 25089 Picture: TIM DOUTRE

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TAYLORS LAKES teenager Kahlia Warner will head to next month’s Australian Open Diving Championships in Sydney full of confidence after performing well at the 2010 Victorian Open Championships.

Fifteen-year-old Warner claimed first prize in the women’s one-metre final at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC) earlier this month, a day after finishing second on the three-metre board by less than a point.

The teenager said she was happy with the outcome of the championships.

“You train hard for all of the competitions you’re in and if you do well it’s good that all your hard work has paid off,” she said.

Her performances guaranteed qualification into the Australian Open Championships in January, an event that will feature Olympians Melissa Wu and Briony Cole, as well as Beijing Olympics gold medalist Matthew Mitcham.

“I’m nervous but I’m also excited,” she said, ahead of the competition that will help to determine Australia’s squads for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and Youth Olympics.

She said she was also looking forward to meeting her idol, Matthew Mitcham.

As well as diving, the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School student also juggles her studies with a part-time job at McDonalds, a commitment that has forced her to miss the medal ceremony after winning gold on the one-metre board.

“She left before she knew she came first,” her mother Tiffany said.

“So she didn’t get to hang around for the presentation, she got it (the medal) from her coach on the Monday morning.”

Despite missing the award ceremony, Warner said she was comfortable dividing time between diving, school and work.

Prior to taking on diving, Warner was a gymnast, before being tempted in the school holidays of 2006 into trying her gymnastics skills off a diving board.

The switch has paid off for the teenager who has travelled the country competing in numerous competitions. Tiffany acknowledges her daughter will again face strong competition in Sydney next month, but said Kahlia was determined to do her best.

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