Preliminary round: All divers perform six dives; the top 18 divers advance to the semi-final.
Semi-final: The scores of the preliminary round are erased. The 18 remaining divers perform six dives each, and the top 12 divers advance to the final.
Final: The semi-final scores are erased. The 12 final divers perform six dives each, and the top three divers win the gold, silver and bronze medals respectively.
Within each round of six dives, at least one dive must be from each of the five groups (forward, back, reverse, inward, and twisting). The sixth dive may be from any group, but may not repeat one of the other dives. Each dive is assigned a degree of difficulty based on somersaults, position, twists, approach, and entry. There is no limit to the degree of difficulty of dives; the most difficult dives calculated in the FINA rulebook (reverse 4 1⁄2 somersault in pike position and back 4 1⁄2 somersault in pike position) are 4.7, but competitors could attempt more difficult dives. Scoring is done by a panel of seven judges. For each dive, each judge gives a score between 0 and 10 with 0.5 point increments. The top two and bottom two scores are discarded. The remaining three scores are summed and multiplied by the degree of difficulty to give a dive score. The six dive scores are summed to give the score for the round.
The qualification spots for the Men's 3 metre springboard diving event were attributed as follows:[2]
2023 World Championships – The top twelve finalists of each individual event obtained a quota place for their NOC at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, scheduled for July 14 to 30, in Fukuoka, Japan.
Continental Qualification Tournaments – The winners of each individual event obtained a quota place for their NOC at one of the five continental meets (Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania) approved by World Aquatics.
2024 World Championships – Twelve highest-ranked divers eligible for qualification obtained a quota place for their NOC in each individual event at the 2024 FINA World Championships, scheduled for February 2 to 18, in Doha, Qatar, respecting the two-member country limit and without surpassing the total quota of 136.
Reallocation – Additional spots were allocated to the eligible divers placed thirteenth and above in their corresponding individual events, respecting the two-member country limit, at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships until they attain the total quota of 136.
Host nation – As the host country, France reserves four men's spots to be distributed across the individual diving events.
Results
25 divers entered the event, representing 15 nations.[3]