FEATURE

Hunt takes 20th victory, Duque podiums in Colombia

By quattro media

It was a season-start in style for four-time World Series champion Gary Hunt, who dominated the first competition of the 2015 season in Colombia’s Cartagena, making it his 20th victory in seven years of the World Series. The Brit's haul of 526.20 points is his second-highest score to date, and just 0.20 points short of his personal best. 30,000 vocal spectators cheered their local hero Orlando Duque (477.60pts) to a podium finish from the 27m-platform on the Centro de Convenciones and secured the Colombian the best start to a season for three years.

Secondplaced David Colturi, from the USA, gave another very strong performance plunging into the year with a new personal best (493.80pts).

The World Series has never seen a better opener with the top athletes performing on top of their game in the first competition after a six-month winter break. High scores in the optional rounds, rookies impressing with dives that have never been attempted before and another convincing win by 30-year old Gary Hunt. Carrying the momentum of his 2014 title, the record winner just picked up where he left off last year. Whether Hunt was the star of the show in Cartagena was debatable, however, as the reception afforded Orlando Duque in his first World Series event on home soil was something special.

The crowd favourite insisted that he remained focused on the competition, but that the huge vocal support and the cheers that accompanied his announcement on the platform was a fantastic feeling.

David Colturi's score of 493.80 points represented a new personal best for the US diver and, after his best programme of dives to date, the Los Angeles-based athlete is targeting a tilt at Hunt's World Series title.

For the first time a World Series competition was held in the home country of the cliff diving legend Orlando Duque and the spectators turned out in droves to support him and his fellow athletes on a hot Saturday afternoon. The world’s best cliff divers did not leave the crowd disappointed and what they displayed today is definitely a good indicator for things to come in the World Series’ seventh season.

After this superb opener in the Caribbean, the cliff diving elite heads to the chilly waters of La Rochelle, France, for the second stop on Sunday, May 17.

QUOTES FROM THE TOP-THREE

Gary Hunt (UK)
I‘m ecstatic! I tried to take it dive-by-dive, but I wanted to dive last and that’s why I put my triple quad as my first optional and it was great. It was tough diving straight after Orlando! The crowd went absolutely wild for him, but that’s to be expected because he’s the hero here. It’s great for me that I managed to out-dive him. I’m happy that I managed to deal with the nerves and because of my training I felt strong and confident up there. I felt confident going into the final round because of my lead, but I’ve been in that position and not won, so I told myself not to relax because there was still work to do!

David Colturi (USA)
I’m feeling on top of the world right now. It was a really good off-season for me – I’ve been training really hard, and I finally feel like things are coming together. Everyone’s pushing the limit and this was the first of many amazing stops for the World Series. I’ve never put together a list of dives like I did today – and it’s a new personal best for me. Last year was up and down, but this year I feel like I‘m in the mix at the top. I’ve had three fifth-placed finishes in the World Series which is okay, but I feel that this will be my breakout year.

Orlando Duque (COL)
It felt great walking down the end of the platform, I felt like a rock star! Everybody’s cheering and clapping, and I‘m having fun. Once I’m at the end of the platform, though, I’m good to go! I told the other divers, I’ve got to be honest, I’m enjoying this! The walk down the platform to the edge and seeing the people... it’s just awesome, fantastic! As fun as it is, it just becomes competition for me. It could have been more because my practice was better. But it’s a good start, I’m on the podium and I’m up there at the start. I’m doing dives well in training so I’m confident that I can do well. I just need to focus a little bit on the competition, but I feel it’s going to be a good season for me.

RESULTS STOP 1, CARTAGENA
1. Gary Hunt | UK | 526.20pts.
2. David Colturi | USA | 493.80
3. Orlando Duque | COL | 477.60
4. Blake Aldridge | UK | 467.10
5. Andy Jones | USA | 453.10
6. Artem Silchenko | RUS | 378.10
7. Miguel Garcia (wildcard) | COL | 375.45
8. Sergio Guzman (wildcard) | MEX | 307.90
9. Jorge Ferzuli (wildcard) | MEX | 296.80
10. Christian Arayon (wildcard) | COL | 292.20
11. Steven LoBue | USA | 242.30
12. Jucelino Junior | BRA | 211.10
13. Jonathan Paredes | MEX | 203.30


Photo credit: © Red Bull Media House











Video:  Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series 2015 – Action Clip – Cartagena, Colombia
(click image to view)




Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series 2015
Gravity-defying freefall punctuated by awe-inducing tricks – that is cliff diving. The sport's best athletes leap aesthetically from almost three times the Olympic height with no protection at all, except their concentration, skill and physical control. In less than three seconds, gravity propels the divers' bodies as they fall the equivalent of eight stories, reaching speeds in excess of 85kph.

Since 2009, the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series has provided a platform for breathtaking action and dives of incredible complexity, spotlighting the sport’s top athletes as well as young talent and in 2014 it introduced a Women’s World Series. In its seventh season, this rapidly-evolving sport will crown new champions during eight demanding competitions for the men and three stops for the women. Between April and September, this pure extreme sport will touch waters in natural and urban surroundings as well as remote and iconic venues across
South America, the US and Europe and top it all with the season finale and the 50th World Series competition.

LifeProof® is the official World Series partner to protect competitors’ smartphones to ensure they can focus on competing, safe in the knowledge that their device is protected from dirt, dust, rocks and crucially, water!