Not only were the winds much calmer in Porto Flavia, Italy, on Sunday, but there was also very little movement on the women’s scoreboard as the high divers made their third and fourth World Cup dives from a crazily-perched mine shaft etched into a precipitous cliff.

In the third round, Rhiannan Iffland of Australia extended her lead by earning yet another highest round score for her forward triple with ½ twist. Two Americans, Kaylea Arnett and Lisa Faulkner ( who had only been separated by 0.60 points) flipped positions, as Arnett pulled into second place by 11.10 points on the same dive as Iffland. Molly Carlson stayed in fourth place with a slightly less-difficult inward double with half twist (with 3.2 DD).

On the fourth/final dive, Iffland once again snared the top round score (96.90) for her inward triple with a half twist to win the contest with a two-day 356.05-point tally. Arnett also added more than 90 points (for her reverse double with a half twist) to stay in second place with 324.45 points. The only shift in the final round was that Carlson claimed bronze with a conservative but well-executed inward triple with half twist (with 3.8 DD), just ahead of Faulkner, whose 4.0 DD back triple pike earned 6.0s and 6.5s, leaving Faulkner 7.10 points shy of the podium.

Although Iffland won handily, the five-time world champion said, “Consistency is hard to master. I’m just on this wave of confidence at the moment, really enjoying what I’m doing, comfortable with the dives and [my] preparation for them.

“Yesterday I said I wanted 9’s today and I managed to do that [on dive 3], so I’m super-stoked,” Iffland added. “Stepping out on the platform today, that final dive was amazing. The energy from the audience out in the boats was electric. The water was crystal clear. I just wanted to jump in, to be honest.”

Silver medallist Arnett said that after her fourth-place finish at the World Championships in Singapore five weeks ago, “I realised that I needed to keep my nerves in check and stay calm – and that’s what I did today: take in the beautiful scenery and put it in autopilot. I hit four out of four in this meet, which is kind of rare for me. I’m a bit inconsistent, so I’m super-happy and super-proud to hit all four of my dives.”

For Carlson, Sunday’s bronze medal was especially redemptive because the last time she was in Italy, she had a harrowing fall in training. In late June, the two-time world championship medalist slid off the edge of the platform in Polignano a Mare on takeoff, spun wildly in a 20-meter freefall, and magically found her feet just before landing.

“I definitely had a tough year with my mental health, a lot of anxiety”, Carlson said, so in many ways, it was a victory for me to be back in Italy, NOT slip off a platform, really get out there and have fun. I dive better when I’m enjoying myself, and not [have] much pressure on myself. I’m so happy to be back out there with the girls.

“I’m just honoured to be on the podium today,” she said, and called the Sardinia World Cup, “a beautiful experience. You know, sometimes it’s tough to not feel like you’re on vacation [here], but we stayed in the moment when we needed to, so now we get to enjoy.”

 

Contributing: Torin Koos