Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series 2018 - Polignano a Mare (ITA) - Winning Dive Women

England's Gary Hunt and Rhiannan Iffland of Australia were at their imperious best as they fought off the strong challenge of their rivals and completed their own personal comebacks to secure the title at the final stop of the 2018 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in Polignano a Mare, Italy. While for Hunt it was a record seventh King Kahekili Trophy in this 10th anniversary season, Iffland can now lay claim to being the most successful female diver in the sport's history after making it a hat-trick of World Series championship wins in front of 70,000 passionate fans at the place where houses rise from the rocks. In the women's, Iffland's title rivals failed to find their very best form, with Mexico's Adriana Jimenez finishing fourth on the day to fall back to second place overall, while Canadian Lysanne Richard's second place secured her the final spot on the overall podium.
The 27-year-old Australian triple champion had sent out a message already on day one of the competition as she surged into the lead with a sensational second round showing, which earned Iffland the highest ever score for a single dive from the 21m platform. Eleven victories in 17 starts weren’t enough for the cliff diving sensation, as she added the highest ever women’s competition score to her list of records. With two victories and a second place in five events, Jimenez repeated her runner-up finish from 2017. After coming back even stronger from a year off due to injury, Switzerland-winner Lysanne Richard from Canada completed the women’s top three.
Rhiannan Iffland (AUS): “I’m kind of lost of words. It still hasn’t sunk in yet, but I knew I had to do a consistently good competition. I knew I had to smash it really. That was all that was in my head. Go out on the platform and be yourself and do it how you know it. I think it was a smart move to put the most difficult dive yesterday, so I had more energy. But the crowd and the atmosphere here today was filling me with energy anyway, so either way I’m super stoked. I love this place, it’s one of my favourite stops and it is very special to stand up on the platform and look out and see all these people passionate about this sport.”

Results - Stop #7, Polignano a Mare | ITA
1- Rhiannan Iffland AUS – 342.25pts
2- Lysanne Richard CAN – 294.35
3- Yana Nestsiarava BLR – 286.90
4- Adriana Jimenez MEX – 276.55
5- Jessica Macaulay (W) GBR – 268.70

Final standings (after 5 of 5 stops)
1- Rhiannan Iffland AUS – 830pts
2- Adriana Jimenez MEX – 760
3- Lysanne Richard CAN – 690
4- Jessica Macaulay (W) GBR – 600
5- Yana Nestsiarava BLR – 510