JUMPING from a high of 10 meters to execute a series of acrobatic moves before making sure you land head-first cleanly with minimal splash on the swimming pool makes Olympic platform diving a scary sport.
Add 11 to 17 meters to the height and you get Cliff Diving.
With a men’s dive height of 27 meters or 90 feet (just four feet short of the length of a basketball court) and 21 meters for women, building up to speeds of up to 85 kilometers per hour, before landing feet-first in the sea, Cliff Diving has emerged as an extreme sport.
And the world’s elite diving daredevils turned El Nido, Palawan into their playground last weekend during the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series 2025 season opener.
Orlando Duque, the first-ever Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series champion in 2009 and current Red Bull Cliff Diving sports director, compared the thrill you get from the two sports.
“Diving is great, but diving in the pool is pretty much the same everywhere you go, yeah? Cliff Diving, look, in two, in three days, four dives only, three different locations—it's all completely different,” the retired 50-year-old Colombian diver said.
“It keeps them thinking,” he added. “It keeps them challenging, them, you know, they have to adapt to every changing conditions, you don't get that in diving. The sport is the same, you're flipping and twisting in the air but at the end, you don't get the same kind of feeling like we have in Cliff Diving when you change locations.”
The first round on Friday took place at Cove 3 in Lagen Island where divers had to first showcase their skills in a different sport: rock climbing, as they had to wear a safety harness to climb a couple of bamboo ladders and get through sharp limestone rocks to get to the dive point that only had a small even surface that fit their feet.
Filipino-Australian diver Xantheia Pennisi embraces the extra effort.
READ: Fil-Aussie cliff diver hopes more kababayans will take the plunge in this extreme sport
“It’s definitely a big challenge having to navigate the climb and get your footwork in and having all that adrenaline and sweat, and heat on you when you have to dive, but I think it’s something that I enjoy and the fun part of this sport,” said the Brisbane-born diver who traces her Philippine roots to Tarlac.
“It’s different not having the platforms, but I love that part of the sport. It is called cliff diving,” the 26-year-old former gymnast said.
Rhiannan Iffland the eight-time defending women’s World Series champion, has always been able to adjust to the conditions, proving it yet again by picking up from where she left off last year by conquering this season-opening El Nido stop.
READ: Hunt, Iffland win first leg of Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series
“You turn up at a different location and you have to deal with what's being handed to you,” the 33-year-old Australian diver said.
“And I think one thing to remember in a sport like cliff diving is that you can't fight the elements, you can't fight nature, it's always going to win so you have to kind of go with it and just be ready for whatever comes your way,” she added.
Getting scared is still part of the mixed emotions even for the best divers.
After all, it only takes about 2.6 seconds for divers to showcase their tricks in the air, but the climb on the limestone cliff at Cove 3 took at least 10 minutes, and the feeling when you look down on the water probably an eternity.
For Iffland, the feeling never gets old.
“It's always an intimidating feeling getting up there when you've got the height and the fear and the adrenaline and then you've got the competition on top of that. It's definitely not for the faint hearted, but I felt good.”
Rounds two to four took place in better-controlled locations at lagoons inside Miniloc Island – the second round at the Small Lagoon on Saturday and back-to-back rounds three and four on Sunday at Big Lagoon where everyone had to enter via kayak as bigger boats that couldn’t fit are parked at shore.
New Olympic sport?
With the heightened skills and emotions needed in cliff diving compared to platform diving, officials are pushing for their sport to become part of the Olympic roster as well.
“We've been working hard for that, to get to the Olympic Games,” said Duque, the 2013 World Aquatics Championships high diving gold medalist. “2028, unfortunately, sports have been assigned but ‘32 in Brisbane, in Australia, why not? You know, we have a good Australian representation, it takes a big effort from the local team to really push it.”
“But the sport has everything, the sport has all that is needed, you know, and it's like challenging, it's difficult, it's a show, you know, besides the competition so hopefully, they take into it, we're working really hard, all the divers really want to get to the Olympics and hopefully, one day, we're going to be there,” he added.
Regardless of the type of competition, El Nido serves as a perfect cliff diving spot as the World Series made its return to the scenic Luzon island for the first time in six years.
“It's just beautiful,” Duque said of El Nido. “You know, this is what we like for cliff diving, this type of locations, it makes you think, you know. You come here early in the morning and then you're sitting by the beach, you're waiting, then you go swimming, then you do some dives.”
“Being in that connection with nature, that's the best, you know,” he added. “Everybody remembers 2019 and when they announced we were coming back, it was like, yeah, everybody was really happy, this is one of those places you always want to go back to.”
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