Michael Hixon medaled at his previous two world-class international competitions.

The Amherst native and Indiana University diver captured bronze at the 2015 FINA World Championships in the 1-meter individual springboard and silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics in 3-meter synchronized.

That success creates a certain level of hype for the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest.

“There’s a lot of expectations, but we’re going to keep it performance based, go out there and have a good event,” Hixon said. “(I’ll) focus on myself, don’t let anything bother me. We know that if I dive well, we’ll be up near the top where we want to be.”

Hixon and Team USA left for Europe on July 5. They spent a few days in London before continuing to Budapest. It’s Hixon’s first time in the capital of Hungary.

“I’ll be there for a couple days while the diving wraps up, so hopefully I’ll be able to see what Budapest has to offer,” he said. “I hear it’s an unbelievable city.”

But first, the diving.

Hixon qualified for three world championship events at three different trials. (A live stream of the championships can be found online at FINA.org.)

In December, he won the 1-meter title at the USA Diving Winter National Championships in Columbus, Ohio. The 1-meter preliminary rounds at worlds begin at 5 a.m. Eastern Friday.

In May, he finished first at the World Championship Trials in the 3-meter individual in Indianapolis. Hixon will start competing in that discipline Wednesday in Hungary at 4 a.m. Eastern.

Hixon and his synchronized diving partner Sam Dorman won the 2017 USA Diving Synchronized national title to qualify for worlds. They’ll compete at 4 a.m. Eastern Saturday.

The pair has worked together for a little over a year. Dorman and Hixon first teamed up at the Olympic Trials last summer to qualify for Rio. They’ve developed even more of a rapport over the past 12 months. Hixon has trained with Dorman in Miami, and Dorman has come up to Indiana.

“We’ve really taken the time, especially since Rio, so we don’t lose where we’ve been,” Hixon said.

“You couldn’t ask for a better partner. He really is truly a professional, the way he handles himself, the way he trains, the way he treats his body. It’s awesome to deal with someone who cares that much.”

They’ll perform the same list from the Olympics, which features one of the highest degrees of difficulty in the world. Hixon also will keep the same 3-meter individual springboard list from the Olympics. He finished 10th in Rio.

Hixon’s 1-meter list may receive some updates, though. He changed his front 3½ tuck to a pike, which adds 0.3 to the degree of difficulty of the dive. Changing his voluntary reverse dive from a tuck to a pike and adding 0.2 to the degree of difficulty is also on the table.

At high-level events like the Olympics and World Championships, those decimal points make a difference.

“To get a medal it’s the guys that do the hardest and execute them well. Hard dives alone don’t get the job done,” Hixon said. “That’s the kind of thing I think can possibly make a world championship happen, added degree of difficulty. If we execute it well, we can get it done.”

Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.

]]>