China, which swept all 13 diving gold medals at last year’s world championships, enters this year’s worlds, which started Friday, without two of its biggest male stars.
Cao Yuan, a gold medalist at the last three Olympics, and Yang Jian, the two-time reigning platform world champion, are not on the World Aquatics website entry list.
Chinese media reported in May that Cao, 28, and Yang, 29, were injured.
Cao competed at every Olympics and world championships from 2012 through 2022. He won individual Olympic springboard gold in 2016 and platform gold in 2021.
At last year’s worlds, he earned springboard silver and synchronized springboard gold to up his total to eight career world medals, one shy of retired Russian Dmitry Sautin’s male record.
Yang followed his Tokyo Olympic platform silver (behind Cao) by repeating as world champion last year.
China’s roster for worlds in Fukuoka, Japan, is led by female platform divers Quan Hongchan, 16, and Chen Yuxi, 17, who went gold-silver at the Tokyo Olympics, then reversed their one-two at the 2022 Worlds.
Also returning are defending springboard gold medalists Wang Zongyuan and Chen Yiwen.
China won the last 25 events at world diving championships in which it has competed, dating to the start of the 2019 Worlds. It won 12 of 13 golds overall in 2019 and did not have an entry in the outlier.
China has never swept the golds at an Olympics, coming one shy in 2008, 2016 and 2021.