Anton Down-Jenkins - Swimming & Diving Coach - University of North Carolina Athletics

Anton Down-Jenkins

Title:
Assistant Diving Coach
Email:
antondj@email.unc.edu
Phone:
919-962-6000

Double Carolina Alum and Tokyo 2020 Olympic finalist Anton Down-Jenkins joined the Carolina diving staff as an assistant coach in October of 2025. Down-Jenkins joined the Tar Heels after serving the team as a volunteer assistant coach for the previous two seasons.

Down-Jenkins has a proven track record of developing young talent to the national level, having spent the past four years coaching with North Carolina Diving Club. In his role with the club, Down-Jenkins most recently coached six divers to the 2025 USA Diving Junior National Championships, the most in the club’s history. At the National Championships, his athletes went on to secure four Top 12 finishes.

As an athlete, Down-Jenkins enjoyed success on the collegiate, national, and international stage. The Wellington, New Zealand native qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games representing his home country, becoming the first male diver from New Zealand in four decades to qualify for the Games. Down-Jenkins finished eighth in the men’s 3-meter event, again making history for New Zealand as the first ever diver from New Zealand to qualify for an Olympic final. Down-Jenkins also competed at three World Championships, two Diving World Cup events, and the Canadian leg of the 2020 Diving World Series.

In college, diving under Head Diving Coach Yaidel Gamboa, Down-Jenkins became UNC’s most successful male diver ever, finishing his collegiate career as an eight-time All-American, three-time ACC Champion, and was the 2020-21 and 2021-22 ACC Men’s Diver of the Year. Down-Jenkins was also named ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the 2021-22 season.

Down-Jenkins graduated from Carolina’s graduate school in 2025 with a master’s degree in Exercise and Sports Science. He also graduated from Carolina in 2023 with a degree in Media and Journalism.