When the five-time women’s world champion cliff diver, one of the most decorated cliff diving pros in the world, is an Aussie, it stands to reason that their home country should host the sport’s biggest annual event. Which is exactly the reason why Sydney will be playing host to the finals of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series for the first time, on October 15. Homegrown diving star, Rhiannan Iffland, will be competing to defend her title and claim a sixth win in the tournament. If there’s one thing Aussie spectators know how to do, it’s how to get behind one of our hometown heroes with enough whoops and whistles to carry them to victory.
The divers will be hurling themselves from on high into the waters of Sydney Harbour, the eighth and final stop on this year’s world series tour, which will also be visiting Boston, Paris, Copenhagen, Oslo, Mosta, Sisikon, and Polignano a Mare. Since the only cliffs high enough to suit the event look out of the headland waters that are not only choppy but active shipping lanes, a purpose-built platform will be constructed by the waters off Bennelong Point, in view of both the Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House – the first time the event has used an entirely artificial ‘cliff’.
Iffland shared her excitement at the chance to show the folks back home why she’s the leading female cliff diver in the world. “It’s a very exciting thing, especially for me because it’s just down the road from where I grew up,” she said. “This is going to be an amazing location to showcase our sport to the rest of Australia. I think it’s going to be – in my eyes and personally for me – the most exciting and amazing event yet. I just cannot wait to be standing up there and living that moment.”