It’s only been two summers since Western Nevada College graduate Krysta Palmer won an unexpected bronze medal at the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2021.

Now 31, Palmer is still a member of the USA Diving Team and an assistant coach for the University of Nevada, Reno swimming and diving team.

Last month, Palmer combined with Jack Ryan of Denver to place eighth in the mixed synchronized 3-meter diving event at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

With only three years separating the Tokyo and Paris Olympics because of COVID-19, Palmer remains on track to compete in her second straight Summer Games. She’ll have the opportunity to qualify for the Games at the U.S. Olympic Diving Trials in June 2024 at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Palmer qualified for the previous Olympic Games at 29 after only taking up diving as a 20-year-old. She and USA teammate Alison Gibson placed eighth in the 3-meter synchronized springboard event on the first weekend of the Summer Games.

But she made the most impact in the 3-meter springboard event, in which she was an enormous underdog for a medal. After scrambling to qualify for the semifinals by placing 14^th (only 18 divers advanced), she finished fifth in the semifinals to make the final round. Palmer stoically executed all five of her dives and comfortably earned the bronze medal, while missing the silver medal by only 5 points.

In the process, the 2014 WNC grad became the first American woman to earn a medal in the 3-meter springboard event since Kelly McCormick in 1988 and the first U.S. woman to medal in an individual diving event since Laura Wilkinson in 2000.

This past spring, Palmer took home three medals from the national championships in Morgantown, W. Va. She finished first in 3-meter mixed synchro, third in 3-meter women’s diving and third in 3-meter women’s synchro.

Palmer graduated from the University of Nevada in 2016 with a degree in Kinesiology and has been coaching the Pack’s divers since 2016.

She was recently featured by KTVN 2 on Krysta Palmer Day at the Reno Orthopedic Center: https://www.2news.com/news/training-with-olympic-diver-krysta-palmer/video_d7c6124c-3290-11ee-951b-7bd330fc8d48.html.