Watch the coronation of the 2015 Red Bull Cliff Diving Women’s World Series Champion on September 13 in Italy live on www.redbullcliffdiving.com
While Polignano a Mare is the penultimate stop for the men’s 2015 World Series, where a tight battle for the top 5 overall places will continue, for the female cliff divers this beautiful town in southern Italy will see the crowning of a champion. After the women’s first 20m off-the-cliff competition in Azores, wildcard Cesilie Carlton and fellow American Rachelle Simpson are tied in first place – everything will be decided in the women’s season final. The heat is on in the men’s category after Mexico’s Jonathan Paredes engraved his name onto the elite list of competition winners in the previous stop, breaking Gary Hunt’s winning streak from almost three times the Olympic height. Only one point behind Colombian legend Orlando Duque in the overall standings, the 26-year-old is encouraged to step it up once again approaching the business end of the year. After five wins in a row and for the first time this season, England’s Gary Hunt has missed the podium in Mostar, making way for a rising cliff diving star – Jonathan Paredes. The Mexican style master has worked his way up during the course of the season to win his first World Series competition. Also back in the game for a top result is David Colturi after struggling with his form in mid-season. The American sits in fifth place in the overall standings – the season’s best five athletes will be granted a permanent spot in a 2016 Series – hunted by fellow countryman Andy Jones, who has as well targeted the top-five. With six of eight stops down, the long and demanding season has started taking its toll on the athletes, and so former British Olympian Blake Aldridge – currently 4th – fights through injuries for a good overall finish. Who’ll cope best with the pressure and challenges of another competition from 27m into the unforgiving waters?
Italy probably provides the most unusual venue: the take-off spot is a private roof-top terrace and the athletes have to enter the platforms 20m and 27m above the Adriatic Sea via a private living room. The house is built over the most famous cliff of the coast and looks integrated into the cliff itself. Within the international cliff diving scene this spot is renowned for its uniqueness and will be the launch point for the female cliff diving elite for the first time ever. Can the Women’s World Series reigning champion Rachelle Simpson prevail or will invitee Cesilie Carlton, the winner in Portugal, outperform the FINA high diving world champion? Nothing’s decided yet, as Ginger Leigh Huber (USA) and Anna Bader (GER) also still have chances on the title. With four wildcard divers, the women’s competition guarantees a thrilling final battle from 20m.
Four wildcards will as well spice up the men’s three-second flights: Mexico’s Sergio Guzman, the only wildcard who’s ever made it to the podium, Polish diver Kris Kolanus and Jose Wilker from Brazil. Italian Alessandro De Rose can count on the crowd’s support, as jumping into the water fascinates the locals of all ages. How well the invited athletes will take on their 85kph-fast challenges will be assessed by an international judging panel of five, headed by the Italian Claudio de Miro.
A return to Polignano a Mare is a return to the European Mecca of cliff diving, which will host a World Series competition for the third time after 2009 and 2010. The typical south Italian town is home to just a little more than 16,000 people and is perched on rocks. Where cliffs are the foundation of everyday life an enormous crowd can be expected to watch the 22 athletes competing in the seventh stop of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, in which the Italian fans will see the coronation of this year’s women’s champion in the afternoon hours of September 13.
Press Office Red Bull