Red Bull Cliff Diving Polignano: Heslop and Iffland win. DeRose is back

One of the predestined of diving from great heights and the queen of the discipline. Aidan Heslop and Rhiannan Iffland are the rulers of the Polignano a Mare stage of the Red Bull Cliff Diving which crowns the future and the present of a sport that continues to make great strides towards the Olympic dream. And rightly so. It is right that it is the 10th edition of the event that has found its home in Puglia to mark a further step towards tomorrow. Without taking anything away from Constantin Popovici, the one who is managing to tame at the start of the season Gary Hunt, one of the legends of the discipline. But the scene, this time, is all of the British diver recovers ten positions in the standings on the second day of competition and, with a wonderful execution of the last very difficult dive (difficulty coefficient 6.2), surpasses the Romanians Constantin Popovici (the winner of the first two appointments) e Catalina Preda.

heslop’s comeback

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“Being on the podium with Consta is already a great achievement – says Heslop – but the real challenge with myself was recovering so many positions in the standings. Now I want to continue growing on this path and try to give continuity to this result. Also because winning is beautiful, but winning in Polignano, in front of all these people, is even more so”. In Polignano where his love story with Red Bull Cliff Diving had begun in 2018, with the first wild card and the first exhibition. “It’s been five years and that’s one of the reasons I’m so attached to this city. See you next year”. Now his head is projected to the Fukuoka World Cup and at the next stop of the World Series in Takachiho, both in Japan. “I can’t wait – he concludes – I’ve never been there and I’m super excited. I want to discover that land and eat a lot of sushi (and he bursts out laughing, ed)”.

from iffland to cositti

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He laughs too Rhiannan Ifflandconstantly on the top step of the podium in Polignano since 2017. His, at the fortieth Red Bull Cliff Diving race in his career, is yet another test with top marks, always in the lead from start to finish, with Molly Carlson (companion, among other things of Heslop) close but not too much to worry her, in front of the Australian Xantheia Pennisi. Octave the blue Elise Cosetti, still protagonist of an excellent competition in the third year on the Apulian platform and with already several international appointments behind him (and a European bronze). “I’m growing and I’m working a lot on the consistency of performance – says the Trieste -. I’m satisfied with this race and already focused on the Fukuoka World Championship. We’re training well and progress is starting to show”. Satisfaction also shared with David Baraldi, called at the last minute for the second consecutive year, this time to replace the injured Andrea Barnaba: “Evidently I have Polignano in my destiny – he jokes – but I’m very happy to be back here and to have competed in front of this wonderful crowd. In recent months I’ve been focusing on being able to bring what I do in training back into the competition. It’s a demanding journey, but I keep improving and I hope to be back here soon.”

de rose’s greeting

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Whoever came back, albeit in a completely different guise, was Alexander DeRoseon his 31st birthday. The captain of the blue diving team from great heights, which won in Polignano in 2017 and which considers the Apulian town its second home, is recovering from last year’s injury and is not participating in the 2023 World Series. gara, however, wanted to pay homage to the city with an exciting dive from the platform 27 meters above the sea to greet everyone and make an appointment for next year. Then he flew to the commentary booth where waiting for him were Fabio Caressa and the content creator Lisa Offside with whom he recounted the Polignano stage of the Cliff Diving for Red Bull TV, bringing the viewers some technical notions and, above all, a lot behind the scenes life of divers.