BY Redland Bayside Bulletin

IT’S crunch time for Redland divers Melissa Wu and Sharleen Stratton.

The pair head to Hobart this week to compete for selection in their first Olympic team.

Wu and Stratton have dominated women’s diving in Australia for the past year, but will have tough competition from veterans Loudy Wiggins and Chantelle Newbery, who came out of retirement for another shot at Olympic glory.

Wu, 15, will battle Australian champion Wiggins in the 10-metre platform at the trials which run from Friday to Sunday.

The Thornlands resident and partner Bree Cole will take on Wiggins and Newbery in the 10-metre synchronised platform.

Wu and then-partner Alexandra Croak came second behind the more experienced pair at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, but at this year’s Australian Championships Wu and Cole won gold.

They then went on to claim bronze at the World Cup in February.

Stratton, 20, is Australian champion in the 3m springboard and 3m synchronised springboard (with Cole) and is expected to be chosen in both events.

The Wakerley resident, who grew up in Capalaba, won individual bronze in the 3m springboard at the World Cup this year and came fourth in the 3m

synchronised event.

Stratton and Cole also won gold in the 3m synchronised event at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

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