On the opening day of high diving, Molly Carlson leads after the first two rounds (of four), ahead of three-time world champion Rhiannan Iffland. Gary Hunt, the O.G. at 39, leads the men, 19.00 points ahead of Aidan Heslop.
Under blue skies and light haze at Old Doha Port on Tuesday, high diving reached its half-way point as 19 women and 27 men each made two dives in their four-round contests.
On the women’s side, the 2023 runner-up, Molly Carlson of Canada, earned top scores on both of her dives in just her second world championship to take a 14.50-point lead over Australia’s Rhiannan Iffland who is vying for a four-peat. Two-time bronze medalist Jessica Macaulay of Canada ranked third, 13.35 points behind Iffland. Fourth- through ninth-place were separated by 10 points. Anything can happen when the women complete their event on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, two-time world champion Gary Hunt, 39, leads the men’s field. Hunt has only missed one podium in all five world championships. He has a 19-point lead over NextGen Brit, Aidan Heslop, 21. Last year’s silver medalist, Catalin-Petru Preda of Romania, is third. His fellow Romanian Constantin Popovici will have to fight to defend his 2023 gold medal; he is currently ranked ninth, 37.75 points behind Hunt. The men’s champion will be determined on Thursday after two more dives.
Find out what the leaders were saying at halftime.
Carlson, Iffland, and Macaulay speak:
Carlson, who claimed a silver medal in Japan last year said the key to her lead on Tuesday was familiarity. “In Fukuoka,” she said, “I didn’t know how to handle competition anxiety, so having that experience coming in here and getting the 9s that I knew I could, felt really-really good and a great way to start the competition.” But the venue was a little different than usual.
“This circle pool is very new to me,” the 25-year-old Canadian explained. “The visuals are very strange when it’s not a square because you’re coming out of your dives and you don’t know where the edges are. So that was really freaky to get used to, but luckily at world championships we got four days to practice.”
Three-time world champion Iffland of Australia, 32, wasn’t bothered by the round landing pool in her fourth world championships. “Every new pool and new place,” she said, “it’s never the same – which is exciting.”
About her dives, Iffland said they “could have been better, could’ve been worse. Seven-and-a-halves across the board, it’s not exactly what I was looking for to start with, but that’s okay. I guess it’s gonna make it a bit more interesting tomorrow because I’ve got to go out there and really fight.”
Canada’s Macaulay was generally pleased with the dives that put her in third. If anything, she said, since the women’s tower is 20m and it’s usually 22 on the Red Bull circuit, “I think being a little more aware of that, I could have been a little bit faster in my pike down on my reverse [triple, with 3.9DD]. But I’m really happy. When I was about to do my reverse, I was telling myself, ‘This could be the last time you do this dive,’ so enjoy yourself, and that’s what I did.”
Macaulay, 31, was set to retire after the 2023 World Championships but when the Red Bull season finale was pushed from November 2023 to January 2024, its proximity to the Doha event made it an easy decision to vie for one more world championship medal.
What Hunt and Heslop had to say:
Hunt admitted that he did not expect to lead the men’s standings after two dives.
“I had a much easier optional dive than the rest,” Hunt said of his 4.9DD forward triple with 3½ twists, “but it’s not a Big Trick competition. The judges were strict. You really have to be completely vertical and I managed to do that on my two dives.”
Since the men won’t compete on Wednesday, Hunt said he would probably take the day off. “A day off to clear my mind,” he said. “I made sure to get all my difficult dives practiced yesterday, so I feel prepared. I can just take a deep breath, watch the girls’ event, then come back strong the day after.
On Thursday, Hunt said he plans to throw his signature dive, a back triple with four twists, which was the hardest dive in the world for many years (with a 5.2 DD).
“No surprises on the difficult dives,” Hunt said, “except for the fact that the young divers are going to come with their new dives and I’m going to try and keep the bar high and see if they can jump over it. We’ll see.”
The man ranked No. 2 at the moment, Aidan Heslop, is notorious for pushing the degree of difficulty.
Heslop confirmed that he will do a triple somersault with one-half twist for his third dive on Thursday, “then I’ve got my big running dive – the front quad 3½ twist [with a 6.2 degree of difficulty]. At the moment, it’s the hardest dive in the world so I’ve got the DD advantage. If I can put that one down, which I’ve done before, it should bump me back up a little bit.
“That’s the plan,” Heslop said, “but I’ve definitely got a little bit of work to do to get on that top spot. Consistency is key. I’ve got to relax a bit and let the dive take me.”
Top 10 women after two high 20m dives
- CARLSON Molly (CAN)
- IFFLAND, Rhiannan (AUS)
- MACAULAY Jessica (CAN)
- SMART Ellie (USA)
- ARNETT Kaylea (USA)
- COSETTI Elisa (ITA)
- LEATHEAD Simone (CAN)
- PENNISI Xantheia (AUS)
- CHINNOCK Emily (AUS)
- BADER Anna (GER)
Top 10 men after two 27m dives
- HUNT Gary (FRA)
- HESLOP Aidan (GBR)
- PREDA Catalin-Petru (ROM)
- LICHTENSTEIN James (USA)
- MARTINEZ CABRAL Yolotl (MEX)
- GIMENO Carlos (ESP)
- GARCIA CELIS Miguel (COL)
- GUZMAN Sergio (MEX)
- POPOVICI Constantin (ROM)
- PRYGOROV Oleksiy (UKR)