Guo Twins Representing the United States Together on the World Stage

Twins Ella and Emma Guo are representing the United States together on the world stage in Croatia.  
They’ll both dive in the individual 3-meter event at the World Aquatics Junior Diving Championships on Thursday.  

The 3-meter event will mark Emma's debut in Croatia, while Ella will be competing in her fourth event. She's already placed eighth on both 1-meter and platform and helped the U.S. to fifth place in the mixed team event. 

Ella initially thought she'd be making the trip to Croatia without her sister, but Emma got the call to step in when ElliReese Niday had to withdraw.  

“I'm excited about competing for Team USA, especially because I got the opportunity to go to Junior Worlds. It was a surprise to me because during the Trials, I only got third on 3-meter,” Emma said. “ElliReese, she's super good and I had to replace her. It was a big surprise.” 
 
“It’s really special. We thought I was going to go alone, and now I have my sister with me. We were both really excited for the opportunity,” Ella said. 
 
So how to tell the identical twins apart at the pool, or anywhere for that matter? 

"I don't think anyone can," Emma laughed. 

“Barely anyone can. Sometimes by our dives or if they just know us really well, they can tell us apart,” Ella said.  
 
(Here's one hint: Ella often wears a pink hair tie, while Emma’s is usually white. And they tie them differently.)  
 
While they have their own routines they stick to at practice or in competition, they want to see each other succeed. 
 
"We are pretty competitive, but we work together to help both of us reach our goals. We hype each other up,” Ella said.  

A lot of times, that means listening to Kesha together. She's a favorite of both twins. (Ella also likes Zara Larsson, while Emma says she has a lot of options on her playlist.) 

"We hype ourselves up, but we usually don't get that nervous because it's all about faith and believing in yourself," Emma said. 

Whatever approach they have been taking is certainly working.   

The 14-year-old twins started diving in 2021 when their mom suggested they give it a try for fun because COVID had put a halt to their gymnastics training.  

They quickly picked up the new sport, and both qualified for junior nationals the next year. 

A few years later, they won their first junior national title – and fittingly, as twins, they won it together. It's one of their favorite memories. 

"At junior nationals in 2025, we did synchro together for the first time. It was so new to us, and it was so much fun," Ella said. 
 
Emma added, “We weren't really expecting anything. The place didn't matter. We were just proud to be out there, but for some reason we got first, which was super fun." 

This year, they finished second in synchro at both the Junior World Trials and at Junior Nationals. They were the youngest synchro team at the 2026 USA Diving National Championships, where they finished fourth together. 

The twins also both had their best individual finishes at the 2026 junior nationals.  

Ella won her first two individual junior national titles with gold medals on 3-meter and platform after finishing second in 2024 (3-meter) and 2025 (platform). Following junior nationals, she went on to place fourth on 3-meter at the 2026 senior nationals.  

And Emma came home with a silver medal that she wasn’t expecting at the 2026 junior nationals.  
 
"I like springboard more because I'm better at it, but I was really proud that I got second on tower (at 2026 junior nationals) because last year I didn't even make it to finals. I saw a lot of improvement," said Emma, who also finished fourth on 3-meter and sixth on 1-meter this year. 
 
It was Emma’s best finish in any individual event in her four appearances at junior nationals. 

Ella, the older of the two by about 10 minutes, is "very friendly, very enthusiastic and very talkative,” according to Emma.  
 
“Yeah, I’m definitely the one who counts (in synchro),” said Ella, agreeing with her sister’s take on her being the more talkative of the two, noting that Emma can sometimes appear to be quiet and shy but also very friendly. 
 
Together, they say they are goofy and just like to have fun. When they aren’t diving, they like to play games, watch videos, scroll on their phones and play with their black cat.