Rhiannan Iffland Remains Undefeated At World Championships With Exciting Finish

by ERIN KEAVENY

23 July 2019, 10:00am

By Erin Keaveny, Swimming World Contributor. 

Photo Courtesy: Dean Treml

Rhiannan Iffland, the most decorated woman in high diving history, defended her world championship title this morning, July 23, 2019 in an extremely close competition.

Despite her accolades, the Australian diver did not command the competition like one might expect.

The first and second rounds started yesterday, and Iffland started out strong. Her first dive was the highest scoring dive in the round. Iffland’s second and most difficult dive did not go as well. She only received fives from the judges, and dropped down into fifth place.

This morning, Iffland’s third dive brought her up to fourth place. Her final dive, an inward triple with a half twist tuck (5461C) was exceptional. She earned 98.9 points on the dive, reclaiming her spot as the queen of high diving by the skin of her teeth.

Iffland only won by 0.15 points. Adriana Jimenez from Mexico claimed silver. She had been in first after the second round. Her performance was extremely consistent, she simply did not have any dives that scored nearly as high as Iffland’s in round four.

Jessica Macaulay from Great Britain earned the bronze medal, only 2.5 points behind Jimenez.

This is Iffland’s second gold at a World Championships. She has only been involved in the sport since 2016.

The final diving event takes place tomorrow, Jul 24, with the conclusion of men’s high diving.