There was a remarkable double success for Southampton at the latest stage of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series.
Two of the city’s diving stars set the event in La Rochelle, France, alight with a duo of stunning performances – making it a dream podium one-two for the city.
Gary Hunt, the four-time cliff diving world champion, continued at full tilt as he eyes yet another series crown by making it back-to-back victories, following up his triumph in the first stop in Colombia last month.
Not to be outdone, Blake Aldridge, another of Southampton’s diving alumni, performed a ground-breaking new dive that saw the former Olympian surge to a second place finish.
Aldridge, who partnered Tom Daley in Beijing Olympics in 2008, pulled-off a stunning reverse double somersault with five twists, which surpasses Hunt’s triple quad as the hardest dive in the world.
(Credit: Red Bull Media House) Above: Blake Aldridge in action in La Rochelle.
“I'm delighted,” admitted Aldridge. “I came into the week not feeling very well. I didn't feel myself yesterday, but fortunately I did a good dive and started today off in second.
“I still didn't feel 100 percent today, but got straight up and did my big new dive in training and that went down well.
“That relieved a lot of pressure and spurred me on.”
Meanwhile, Paris-based Hunt, 30, made it a hat-trick of victories at the French port, completing a points haul of 516, which saw him ease to victory in front of a record-breaking 75,000 crowd.
(Credit: Red Bull Media House) Above, Gary Hunt performs to the 75,000 crowd.
“It's amazing, it's the start to the season that I really wanted and doing it here in La Rochelle... it's extra special!” said an excited Hunt.
“It’s been a great start to the year for me and it was great seeing Blake [Aldridge] on the podium as well – we talked about doing a one-two this year and we've done it already so it's an amazing feeling.”
The top-three was completed by Orlando Duque while Hunt’s rival, Artem Silchenko, failed to defend his La Rochelle title from 2013, coming in 12th.
The World Series gets back underway on May 30 in Texas, USA.
Watch the highlights of the event below:
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