What to know for the World Aquatics Championships

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Normally held every two years, the World Aquatics Championships are a jewel of the Olympic sports calendar. The excitement increases when it's the last worlds before a Summer Games, as athletes jockey for qualifying in swimming, diving, water polo and artistic swimming while giving us a sneak peek at the potential stars for the following year's Olympics.

But this one is different. Due to a cascade of pandemic-related postponements, the World Aquatics Championships are, for the first time, about to take place in an Olympic year. In fact, they're happening less than six months before the opening ceremony in Paris — and just six months after the 2023 world championships in Japan.

It's impossible for the world's best swimmers to peak three times in the span of a year in their gruelling sport — at least not if they want to bring their best selves to Paris. So most of them are staying home, including Canadian stars Summer McIntosh, Penny Oleksiak, Maggie Mac Neil, Kylie Masse and Josh Liendo. Only seven of the 22 individual swimming gold medallists from last year's worlds are competing in Doha, where competition begins Friday with some diving and artistic swimming events before swimming takes over the pool on Feb. 11.

Despite the meet's marquee sport being severely depleted, there are still some good Canadian angles to follow. Here are the most interesting:

Canada sent a strong diving team.

Unlike the swimmers, Canada's diving contingent in Doha is at full strength. Recent world-championship medallists Pamela Ware, Caeli McKay, Mia Vallée, Rylan Wiens and Nathan