Cliff diver Anna Bader is starting at the World Championships in Doha and wants to know it again. After a serious accident while jumping, this seemed unthinkable until recently.
High above the water, shortly before jumping 20 meters into the depths, Anna Bader feels the magic. “This freedom, this height, the mental aspect and above all the excitement of showing that one perfect jump despite the risk” – for the 40-year-old from Morbach (Bernkastel-Wittlich district) cliff jumping is “simply the most beautiful thing to date.” Sport”.
Back at the World Cup after a serious accident
She wants to be back on the big stage at the World Championships in Doha from Tuesday (9:00 a.m. CET), even if that was hardly imaginable a year and a half ago. Because it happened in September 2022: Bader landed incorrectly while jumping in Switzerland, was unconscious and was rescued from the water.
She spent three days in the hospital with a concussion and a mild pneumothorax, Bader reported in an interview with the SID. “It certainly could have turned out even worse, but for me it was very drastic after I had jumped without an accident for about 18 years,” says the world-class jumper.
“I actually considered quitting,” says Bader. But she also continued as a role model for her two children, even if she “really blamed herself.” But “mistakes are part of it, you learn from them and don’t let them get you down,” says Bader. In addition, the career end she wants does not involve “being pulled out of the water.” About six months later she was at the top again at a World Cup in Fort Lauderdale. “It was like I was exactly where I belonged,” Bader remembers.
Anna Bader – a pioneer of Cliff jumping
Her love of cliff diving began around 20 years ago. There weren’t many competitions back then, “especially not for women,” says Bader: “I’m proud to say that I was a pioneer there too.” The multiple European champion of the independent competition for European women cliff divers was already at the World Cup premiere of the sport, which is known as high diving. Bader secured bronze in Barcelona in 2013.
Eleven years later she is taking part in a World Cup for the fourth time in Doha. A place in the top ten would be “a huge success,” emphasizes Bader. That’s also possible, but “I don’t have the difficulty level to jump to the top of the podium.” In addition to Bader, Maike Halbisch (Waiblingen) and Iris Schmidbauer (Dresden), who won gold at the official European Championship premiere two years ago, will also be competing in the Old Port of Doha. “The fact that there are three of us is brilliant and a huge success,” says Bader, looking back at the beginning.
She still has “the athlete” and “the ambition” in her, she explains. Yes, the “nice thing is when you’ve been there for so long that you don’t actually have to prove anything to anyone anymore and you can just enjoy it with all your heart.”
