Western Nevada College graduate Krysta Palmer is building up to qualify for her second straight Olympic Games.

Palmer won a bronze medal in 3-meter springboard diving in her first Olympic Games in 2020 in Tokyo. The 2014 WNC grad will compete in the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in February in Doha, Qatar. She earned fifth and eighth-place showings in the previous world championships, competing in mixed events.

The Olympic Trials are in June and qualifiers will compete in the Summer Games scheduled for July 26 through Aug. 11 in Paris.

Palmer attended WNC from spring 2011 through fall 2012 and graduated in May 2014 with an Associate of Arts degree. She then transferred to University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), where she earned a bachelor’s degree in community health science with a focus in kinesiology.

In her well-known story, Palmer didn’t begin diving seriously until she attended UNR. She competed on trampoline and as a gymnast while growing up.

Her bronze medal came unexpectedly in 2020 when she qualified 14^th out of 18 competitors in the women’s 3-meter springboard competition. She stepped up her performance in the semifinals, placing fifth, before executing all five of her dives in the finals to claim a well-deserved but surprising spot on the podium.

It was a memorable moment for the U.S. Olympic Diving Team as Palmer became the first American woman to claim a medal in the 3-meter event since Kelly McCormick in 1988 in Seoul and the first U.S. woman to medal in individual diving since Laura Wilkinson in 2000 in Sydney.