A career in cliff diving is full of highs, but there are also quite a few lows. Ahead of the next stop in Boston, we asked American diver Kent De Mond, who finished fourth in the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in 2010, for his Best Day, Worst Day.
Best Day
That was Acapulco earlier this year. It was a different kind of competition where we were diving directly off the cliffs. All the divers who were there really had to get out of their comfort zone and try to figure out what dives they could safely do. You had to clear about six metres of rocks before you hit the water and time the waves and everything. Some guys were trying difficult dives like a triple half but I knew from before that you get really close to the rocks if you add too many flips in Acapulco and I found out that a flying one and a half was worth the same as a triple half. The downside is that you had to go in headfirst. I took a gamble, I knew it’d hurt a lot, but I threw it and got 9.5s and that’s the first competition I ever won. I still had a slight injury in my wrist three months later but it was worth it!
Worst Day
Probably the worst day of my career was the World Series stop in Greece this year. I came in really short on a back triple triple which is usually a pretty good dive for me. But, partly because of my injury in Acapulco, I hadn’t been able to do my lead-up dives off seven metres like I usually do. I was pretty terrified at the start and what happens is, when you’re scared of a dive, you can’t really relax and your mechanics get messed up. I got close to the platform but didn’t have enough speed so I came up really short, almost 45 degrees short. It knocked the wind out of me and I had to be dragged off to hospital which was pretty miserable. I was fine the next day, but it wasn’t a good feeling.
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