Iffland maintains undefeated start to Red Bull Cliff Dive

– In the second round of the series, which saw divers leaping into the Seine River across from the iconic Eiffel Tower, Iffland extended her winning streak to nine events across two seasons, once again holding off her closest challenger, Canada’s Molly Carlson, to secure her 32nd career victory.

– Iffland, 31, said:

“This is exactly how I wanted to start the season. Start strong and have a little bit of room to play around at the end. When I was up there today I was just taking it all in and trying to stay in my zone, but enjoy the experience at the same time.”

– A tight battle at the top came down to the final dive from the 21m platform, with six-time champion Iffland claiming 9s to claim an 11-point victory over Carlson and secure a 21st win in her last 22 events.

– Germany’s Iris Schmidbauer put in a career-best performance to nail down her first podium place, securing third with the day’s best dive. She said: “It’s been a dream of mine for so long. I’ve been working so hard towards finishing on the podium so to finally make it in front of the Eiffel Tower is just a dream come true.”

– In the men’s competition, Popovici was at his brilliant best once again, streaking clear of his rivals by a huge 59-point margin. Ukraine’s Oleksiy Prygorov took second place – his first World Series podium – with Nikita Fedotov (IAT) finishing third.

– Popovici, 34, said:

“It’s speciaI that I won today. I’m on a mission here and I want to keep it that way. I’m training hard and it paid off.”

– With the likes of Gary Hunt, Aidan Heslop and Catalin Preda all failing to fire so far this year, no clear challenger to Popovici has yet to emerge and the Romanian already holds a commanding 158-point lead in the World Series standings.

– For Prygorov, an Olympic medallist, years of promising performances were finally rewarded with a first-ever cliff diving podium place. The 35-year-old said:

“It’s an unbelievable feeling as I have been chasing this podium for more than five years. I have come close but to finally do it here in Paris, it’s an unbelievable feeling.”

– Outside of the podium places, David Colturi was able to earn 10 extra World Series points for the competition’s best scoring dive – a new incentive for this season – as he earned 9.5s from the judges for his Reverse 2 Somersaults 4 Twists Free.

– Next up for the cliff diving elite is a trip to Polignano a Mare, Italy, in two weeks’ time. Known as the home of European cliff diving, the picturesque town will welcome back the athletes for a record 10th time as the season really begins to hot up.

Story and photo courtesy of Red Bull

Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series Paris results

WOMEN
1. Rhiannan Iffland AUS – 351.70pts.
2. Molly Carlson CAN – 340.30
3. Iris Schmidbauer GER – 316.80
4. Jessica Macaulay CAN – 315.80
5. Eleanor Smart USA – 300.10

MEN
1. Constantin Popovici ROU – 464.90pts.
2. Oleksiy Prygorov UKR – 405.15
3. Nikita Fedotov IAT– 402.05
4. Gary Hunt FRA – 399.60
5. Carlos Gimeno (W) ESP – 396.60

Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series standings (after 2 of 7 stops)

WOMEN
1. Rhiannan Iffland AUS – 410pts.
2. Molly Carlson CAN – 330
3. Jessica Macaulay CAN – 220
4. Iris Schmidbauer GER – 192
5. Meili Carpenter USA – 142

MEN
1. Constantin Popovici ROU – 410pts.
2. Carlos Gimeno (W) ESP – 252
3. Gary Hunt FRA – 220
4. Nikita Fedotov IAT– 206
5. Oleksiy Prygorov UKR – 172