Kassidy Cook is going back to the Olympics for the first time in eight years. Sarah Bacon is going to her first Games.

Cook and Bacon became the first U.S. divers to qualify for the Paris Games, winning the women’s 3m synchronized springboard event to open the Olympic Trials.

It’s a U.S. diving tradition for a past Olympian to present a new Olympian with an Olympic ring once they make the team at Trials. The 2016 Olympian Cook gave a ring to her partner and best friend Bacon.

“I don’t even think it’s sunk in yet,” Bacon said on NBC. “I can’t even speak right now.”

Cook, 29, and Bacon, 27, totaled 629.82 points over five preliminary dives and five final dives at the University of Tennessee’s Allan Jones Aquatic Center.

They prevailed by 30.33 points over Alison Gibson and Krysta Palmer. Three years ago, Gibson and Palmer won the Trials over Cook and Bacon, then placed eighth together at the Tokyo Olympics.

Cook stepped away from competition after the Tokyo Olympic Trials following shoulder injuries. Bacon encouraged her to return and reform their synchro team. Cook took her up on it and quit her job as a healthcare recruiter to come back to full-time diving in 2023.

Cook and Bacon looked like they were in the driver’s seat for the Olympic spot when they placed fourth at the 2023 World Championships.

Then Gibson unretired, repartnered with Palmer, and together they beat Cook and Bacon at last year’s Winter Nationals. Then this past February, Gibson and Palmer took fourth at worlds.

This time around, Cook and Bacon led after all 10 dives.

Cook will make her second Olympic appearance after placing 13th in the individual springboard in Rio.

“I’m just so excited to be back on that stage,” she said. “I’ve been through a lot, and we’ve been through a lot as a team. Injuries, COVID, just having to bounce back from a lot.”

Bacon, who has dealt with back fractures, concussions and shoulder injuries in her diving career, made her first Olympic team in her fourth trials.

She missed the Tokyo Olympic team by one spot in both the individual and synchro springboard. She is a two-time world championships silver medalist in the individual 1m springboard, which is not an Olympic event.

Bacon, Gibson and Palmer are on the entry list for the individual springboard at Trials.

Trials continue with the women's synchro platform and men's synchro springboard (broadcast schedule here). Each winning team qualifies for the Paris Olympics.