Romania’s Constantin Popovici has been voted the 2025 European Men’s High Diver of the Year after another season of consistent podium-level performances across the world’s leading high-diving competitions.
The Bucharest-based athlete topped the public ballot with 35.06% of the vote, recognition of a year defined by resilience and technical precision at the sport’s highest stages. The European Aquatics Athlete of the Year Awards once again underlined the depth of men’s high-diving talent across the continent and Europe’s continued presence at the forefront of the sport.
A key moment of Popovici’s 2025 season came at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, where he emerged from a tightly contested three-way battle to secure the bronze medal. After an uneven start to the competition, the Romanian closed strongly with a sequence of high-scoring dives, posting 141.00 points in the final rounds to move onto the podium.
He followed that performance with a second-place finish at the World Aquatics High Diving World Cup stop in Porto Flavia, further demonstrating the consistency that has characterised his recent seasons. At 37, Popovici continues to show both competitive longevity and an ability to adapt to the increasing technical demands of modern high diving.
Across the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, Popovici remained in title contention through to the concluding round and ultimately finished second overall — a result that reflected his reliability across a calendar featuring some of the sport’s most iconic and technically challenging venues.
Spain’s Carlos Gimeno placed second in the voting with 20.11% after a breakthrough year that included silver at the World Aquatics Championships, a World Cup podium and third place overall in the Red Bull series, highlighted by stage victories in the Philippines and Italy. His performances in Singapore saw him finish only a handful of points from the world title, marking him as one of the sport’s rising contenders.
Italy’s Andrea Barnaba finished third with 19.72% of the vote following a season that featured a joint sixth-place result at the World Championships and a series of steady performances on the Red Bull circuit that signalled his growing presence at the elite level.
France’s Gary Hunt, one of the sport’s most decorated athletes, placed fourth with 14.71%. While finishing sixth at the World Championships, Hunt’s season was defined by consistency across varied conditions — a quality that contributed to his overall Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series title.
Completing the shortlist was another Romanian, Catalin Preda, who received 10.33% of the vote. Preda’s fifth-place finish at the World Championships, combined with solid results across both World Cup and cliff-diving events, further illustrated Romania’s continued strength and depth in men’s high diving.