Australia’s reigning Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series champion remains unbeaten while Dublin’s record weekend crowd of 145,000 witnessed the first-ever Romanian winner.

With a dominant 30-point win Australia’s Rhiannan Iffland was the pinnacle of perfection in the women’s competition when the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series debuted in Ireland’s Dún Laoghaire Harbour.

Canada’s Lysanne Richard took her second podium this season while Adriana Jimenez of Mexico completed the top three. Constantin Popovici, Olympic diver from Romania, earned the top score from the jury and put an end to Gary Hunt’s (GBR) winning streak from the 27m platform in one of the closest results to date.

America’s David Colturi placed third in an event held with an adjusted format due to cold water.

It was the immaculate execution of his final round dive, an inward 4 somersault half twist pike, that earned the 30-year-old his first ever 10, the highest possible score, in the World Series, becoming the 14th man to win an event.

Following the Romanian’s second place at the season opener in the Philippines, World Series record winner Gary Hunt expects a very tight race for the 2019 King Kahekili Trophy. The ‘brilliant Brit’ fell short of his 36th win today by just 1.85 points, however he distanced himself from Colturi in third place by 78.6 points in the chilly conditions in Dublin Bay.

From the 21m platform in the women’s category, 27-year-old Iffland extended her five point day one lead over her nearest rival from Canada to create a little piece of history. Her victory in Ireland equalled the longest women’s winning streak – four in a row across seasons – held by former champion Rachelle Simpson (USA).

In front of 85,000 fans gathered on the pier on Sunday, Richard kept her title hopes alive by making it two podiums in a row while 2018 runner-up Jimenez defied the wind to secure her ninth career podium.

After a weekend at the season’s most northerly and newest location in Ireland the cliff diving elite will travel to the sport’s European home in Polignano a Mare, Italy. In the town where houses rise from the rocks, the athletes will dive from a private rooftop terrace in just three weeks’. 

Quotes from the winners
Constantin Popovici, ROU
It feels really, really great. I didn’t expect that. I trained really hard in the last month and especially in the last two weeks in this weather in England. So I came prepared, but still didn’t expect to win. It was a tough competition. Gary [Hunt] is always the toughest contestant so it’s great to beat him. We had a lot of people and I’m really grateful they all came here to support. It gives you a good boost and motivates you. Sometimes we have zero people like in the Philippines and you focus more, sometimes we have a lot of people that give you a lot of boost.

Rhiannan Iffland, AUS
The winning streak is a really cool feeling and a great confidence boost going into the rest of the year. It was really tough today and I actua lly chose to not train today as I wanted to safe my body and feel more comfortable and warmer up there on the platform. It was a great ambiance out today and it’s a really nice feeling. They’re standing out there in the cold as well so that makes it more manageable for us. It always helps when there is a big crowd.
It gives you a bit more energy and I think a lot of the divers feed off. I know I do.

Results – Stop #2, Dublin, IRL
MEN
1- Constantin Popovici ROU – 454.95pts.
2- Gary Hunt GBR – 453.10
3- David Colturi USA – 374.50
4- Alessandro De Rose (W) ITA – 373.00
5- Blake Aldridge GBR – 365.10
6- Michal Navratil CZE – 328.75
7- Kris Kolanus POL – 324.90
8- Oleksiy Prygorov UKR – 320.00
9- Sergio Guzman (W) MEX – 306.80
10- Jonathan Paredes MEX – 274.15
11- Steven LoBue USA – 258.10
12- Owen Weymouth (W) GBR – 254.75
13- Orlando Duque (W) COL – 243.00
14- Andy Jones USA – 228.15

WOMEN
1- Rhiannan Iffland AUS – 341.50pts.
2- Lysanne Richard CAN – 310.60
3- Adriana Jimenez MEX – 280.60
4- Iris Schmidbauer (W) GER – 275.60
5- Yana Nestsiarava BLR – 262.90
6- Ginger Huber (W) USA – 255.70
7- Eleanor Townsend Smart USA – 251.80
8- Jessica Macaulay GBR – 226.75
9- Celia Fernandez (W) ESP – 213.45
10- Maria Paula Quintero (W) COL – 48.75

Standings* (after 2 of 7 stops)
MEN
1- Gary Hunt GBR – 200pts.
2- Constantin Popovici ROU – 160
3- Jonathan Paredes MEX – 130
4- Kris Kolanus POL – 110
5- Steven LoBue USA – 90
6- David Colturi USA – 70
7- Andy Jones USA – 60
8- Blake Aldridge GBR – 50
9- Michal Navratil CZE – 40
10- Orlando Duque (W) COL – 30
11- Oleksiy Prygorov UKR – 20
12- Nikita Fedotov (W) RUS – 10
13- Sergio Guzman (W) MEX – 9
14- Alessandro De Rose (W) ITA – 8

WOMEN
1- Rhiannan Iffland AUS – 200pts.
2- Yana Nestsiarava BLR– 160
3- Lysanne Richard CAN – 130
4- Jessica Macaulay GBR – 110
5- Adriana Jimenez MEX – 90
6- Ginger Huber (W) USA – 70
7- Xantheia Pennisi (W) AUS – 60
8- Antonina Vyshyvanova (W) UKR – 50
9-Eleanor Townsend Smart USA – 40

*As the water temperature at the competition site at Dún Laoghaire Harbour is below 12 degrees – the minimum temperature according to the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series rulebook – all optional/hard dives cannot be performed by the divers due to an increased risk of injury.

Despite this, the athletes of the World Series still want to display their skills and crown the winners of the Irish Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series stop for the fans and spectators. 

The divers are free to choose the difficulty of the dives they are comfortable to perform in these conditions. Because of this necessary format change the results of this competition will not count towards the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series overall standings.

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