World Champion and New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder Rhiannan Iffland blazed a comeback of her own at the World Aquatics High Diving World Cup in Porto Flavia, Italy, winning bronze in the women’s 20m final ahead of fellow Aussie Xantheia Penissi, and overall winnter Kaylea Arnett from the United States.

The five-time world champion started in sixth place, but the Aussie clinched the bronze thanks to her final dive, an inward triple with a half twist that scored 100.70 points. (It earned four 9.0s from the seven judges – only two of which counted.)

But the event’s ultimate winner, American Kaylea Arnett, finished with a harder dive (a reverse triple pike, with 4.1 DD) that enabled her to overtake Iffland by 6.60 points and the runner-up Xantheia Pennisi by 2.40 points.

Arnett has now defeated Iffland twice this year after winning the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series Stop 2 in Florida.

“I was trying to save my energy for that one moment, that one burst of energy,” the 33-year-old said.

“I hit the water and…had no idea I had won until about 20 minutes later. It was like ‘Wow!’ What a wonderful surprise!’”

As for defeating Iffland for the second time in two months, Arnett said, “That’s just going to make her super-hungry. Of course, we’re always cheering for each other, but you definitely have to focus on yourself and your own performances. I’m proud of what I did today.”

Meanwhile, the silver medal was sweet for runner-up Pennisi, 27, as she had been trying to make a World Cup podium for the last five years.

“I finally did it,” she said, “so all the pieces have fallen together.”

Pennisi’s plan now is “to try to beat my best score every time. I just try to [keep] chipping away and working hard.”

As for Iffland, 34: “I’m super-stoked to have climbed up to the bronze-medal position,” she said. “I knew today I had to really fight and draw on my experience”

The last time Iffland was out of the top-three after the first day of competition, she said, was at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, Republic of Korea, where she eventually won her second consecutive world title (of five).

In Korea, she noted, “I dropped the same dive,” a back triple with two twists (5264B) in the second round.

Because of that, she said, “I knew I had to come in here strong. I do love a bit of pressure. It’s nice to be exposed to that intense situation. It makes me feel so alive. I was certainly more focused today than I was yesterday, and [I was] trying to enjoy the event as a whole because in five years, I don’t want to look back and be like, ‘I didn’t enjoy it because I was so stressed and so worried about results.’”

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