orlando duque : 83 videos

Brazil has football, Ireland the world's best Cliff Divers.

It's not been a glorious summer for England, but the country do at least have one sporting hero: Gary Hunt made it back-to-back wins in Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series competition with another sensational victory on Ireland's Inis Mór on Sunday afternoon.

After an amazing challenge in Cuba, the World Series travels to the USA Lone Star State, Texas. At Kingdom Possum Lake, two towering cliffs mark the entrance to a small cove. This is Hell's Gate, a sheer break in the cliffs around the lake, which rises more than 30 metres out of the lake. Given the flatness of the surrounding terrain, the cliffs are a visual feast. 14 world-class high divers, eight brave women and two towering cliffs in the heart of Texas provide the perfect mix for a succe...

It’s pure, it’s fast and it takes your breath away. Cliff divers leap aesthetically from almost three times the Olympic height and hit the water at speeds of 85kph, protected only by their concentration, skill and physical control. Watch the Story Clip to get familiar with the basics of Cliff Diving. © Red Bull Media House

The divers showed breathtaking action at the first stop of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series 2014 in Cuba’s capital Havana. 60.000 spectators couldn`t believe how high the level in professional Cliff Diving has become. Blake Aldridge was the insuperable man. After a moderate performance in the first round on Friday he showed 3 great dives on the main competition day and took home a well-deserved first place, followed by Jonathan Paredes in 2nd and Gary Hunt in 3rd....

Blake Aldridge takes debut win at 2014 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series kick-off in Cuba. With his first victory in a World Series competition, the former Olympic diver has reached his highest goal yet. After his only podium finish in La Rochelle last year, Blake Aldridge made it to the top position in front of 60,000 enthusiastic Cuban spectators along the famous Malecón on a hot Saturday afternoon. It was a tight fight between the top six athletes in this season’s first 27m battle off Mo...

In 2013 the title is decided during eight competitions between May and October. Until today we have seen three different winners in four competitions and it’s not always the most difficult dives that earn the highest scores from the judges. Consistency is what counts in a long season and now everybody can handle that and finish in the top every single time. Why is that? And what is more important – to show a new and more difficult dive or stick to your “tried and trusted” programme? Why do so...

In the next five months, and during eight competitions, the cliff diving elite will launch from almost three times the Olympic diving height in venues all over the globe, showing their most spectacular and difficult tricks, and overcoming rational fear to impress the judges and spectators alike. And to spice it all up, the 2013 World Series comes to its scariest location first: La Rochelle, France. © Red Bull Media House

Wadi Shab lies in Niyabat Tiwi, a village between the capital, Muscat, and the town of Sur. Easy to reach from the Qurayyat-Sur highway; it has at least seven pools of emerald green water and is studded with dramatic boulders. One of the pools is in a cave where light streams in dramatically from above and there are fantastic echoes heard when one swims in it. Kingfishers add glorious splashes of colour. © Red Bull Media House

It is the point and place where the visible part of the cliff divers’ job begins - the take-off. 27 metres above the water on a small strip of grip tape. Everything happens in the fraction of a second and as explosive as possible and at the same time as controlled as possible. At this point the thinking and mental preparation is over and it is all about performing. © Red Bull Media House

Englishman Gary Hunt wins Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series 2012 It was the red-hot final that everybody expected and it was a battle until the very last dive. Leading the standings going into the final round, Orlando Duque, of Colombia, had the honour of taking the season’s last plunge at Wadi Shab, in the Sultanate of Oman. The Brit had just set the day’s high score of 173.25 points and the pressure was on the Colombian. As soon as he had hit the water it was clear that the higher degree o...

The cliff diving decider close to the small village of Niyabat Tiwi in Oman will be a hot one in more than one way: the Arabic summer is still in full swing and awaits the world’s cliff diving elite with temperatures of up to 45° Celsius, with the battle for the most prestigious title in this sport closer than it’s ever been with only one competition to go. American Steven LoBue and defending World Series champion Gary Hunt, from England, both have to win the seventh and final stop on the Ara...

It varies between 3.6 for a required dive and 6.3 for the most difficult dives in the sport currently. The degree of difficulty (DD) is the rating for each dive performed in a competition and is multiplied by the sum of the judges’ scores to give the total number of points per dive. Each trick in a high dive adds to the degree of difficulty and the athletes of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series keep pushing the limits of their sport by creating and realising new dives which weren’t even c...

American's flying victory in UK cliff diving debut Steven LoBue (USA) takes first victory ever at Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series stop in Wales, UK! Saturday’s penultimate stop of the 2012 World Series was a debut in many regards. It was the first stop on British soil, showed the highest standard of diving that the competition has seen so far and brought a new winner to the podium - the 2012 qualifier from Muncie, Indiana, only arrived late for the first round of competition but stepped...

With his victory at the US leg of the World Series, reigning champion Gary Hunt is more than ready to perform in front of his home crowd at the sixth stop on the 2012 calendar. The 14-strong field of the world’s best cliff divers will exclusively focus on their performances off the 27m platform into the 15°C fresh Celtic Sea at the ‘Blue Lagoon’, the innocently and idyllically looking location for the UK debut. © Red Bull Media House

They are magicians in the air performing multiple somersaults and twists within the blink of an eye. What happens during a twist and what does it need to do 3 or even 4 twists within a split second? To initiate the twist, you need a powerful take off and the power in the legs to hold the pressure. A dive from 27 meters doesn’t take longer than 3 seconds and the twisting action ends after less than 1.5 seconds – to get it all right, body and mind need to work together perfectly! © Red Bull Me...

Boston is widely known as a sports-mad city and today’s fifth stop of the World Series proved this nickname true. 47.000 spectators and more than two hundred boats crowded the area around the Institute of Contemporary Art building late Saturday afternoon to see US diver David Colturi take his first ever podium in front of his home crowd. Englishman Gary Hunt repeated his victory from the 27.5m platform on America’s East Coast after 2011 and Colombia’s Orlando Duque made up eleven positio...

WEARING THE LABEL ‘CLIFF DIVER’ WITH PRIDE They call themselves cliff divers, but still use a platform – why? A high rock and some deep water – that is what makes a cliff diver’s heart beat faster. Searching, finding, conquering and enjoying a cliff and the rush that goes through the body after a dive. It’s all about pure nature and brave men. When these athletes exchange the cliff for a platform and show their jaw-dropping manoeuvres from at least 27 metres in front of a huge crowd of spec...

0.1 points decided the winner of Saturday’s third stop of the 2012 World Series on the volcanic archipelago of the Azores, Portugal. It was the closest victory to date since the kick-off of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in 2009 and made Russia’s Artem Silchenko the third winner in three competitions this season. Orlando Duque (COL) came just behind, in second place, but regained the overall lead of the 2012 World Series. He was followed by World Series champion Gary Hunt (UK). More t...

Despite the literal meaning of Grimstad -- 'sour town' -- its roughly 20,000 permanent residents are widely known for their genuine happiness. Probably because of the region's good weather and the picturesque landscape surrounding the archipelago that stretches 500km from Oslo to the southern tip of Norway. © Red Bull Media House

From the southern tip of the Mediterranean, in Corsica, to the southern tip of Scandinavia – the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series heads north to Grimstad this weekend. All fourteen athletes from eleven countries, including three wildcard divers, make themselves familiar with the chilly conditions at the Skagerrak Strait in the days before the second World Series competition. Those who were on the podium in France – Orlando Duque, Steven LoBue and Michal Navratil – are the most talked-about...

Welcome to Bonifacio. Perched on a limestone pedestal, Bonifacio is one of the most spectacular towns in the Mediterranean. The citadel walls and ancient houses appear to rise seamlessly out of sheer cliffs that have been hollowed and striated by the wind and waves. Beneath, an inlet about 100 metres wide forms a natural harbour, home to a busy port. Only 12 kilometres from Sardinia, the town is distinctly more Italian than French in atmosphere, and even has its own dialect based on Ligurian...

We explain the basics of cliff diving: why is 27Metres (and not 25 or 29) the standard height? What is the scuba divers' job? Why does it only take 5 metres of water depth? What make the athletes dive from almost three times the Olympic height -- the thrill and the challenge of this spectacular sport? And is it possible to dive head from this height? For your reference: the height is comparable to an eight-storey building, the divers fall free for three seconds before they hit the water at 8...

It was his comeback competition and the Colombian began exactly where he ended last year: on top of the podium receiving the winner's trophy. In a thrilling head-to-head battle from 27 metres, reigning World Series champion Gary Hunt was the lucky loser and the last diver to go through to the final at the season opener on the island of Corsica on Saturday evening. More than 1,200 people on boats saw Steven LoBue, from the United States, take his first ever second place, with Czech diver M...

Pasta, pizza, mama mia, espresso - next stop Malcesine, Italy! The divers and the Italian way of life. Last season’s competition in Italy saw Artem Silchenko on the top podium and Series’ dominator Gary Hunt crashed after he world premiered his running take off and still misses an Italian victory in his collection. Maybe the new location at Lake Garda will fill this gap… © Red Bull Media House

The ‘Grande Nation’ is eagerly waiting for its high diving hero’s first podium finish: Cyrille Oumedjkane has proven his claim for the top 3 this season. Will his countrymen’s support help him to step on the podium? It will be a special stop for the Frenchman but likewise for his competitors as well as the set-up crew: The venue provides the World Series’ highest take-off point and the water-tide offers a limited time frame for the competition. Additionally, the platform construction must n...

Gary Hunt repeats his Greece victory of 2009 It was Englishman Gary Hunt who left his personal mark on Greek soil by winning the third stop of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series 2011 in Athens on Sunday afternoon. Lake Vouliagmeni was the venue where the 26-year-old took his first season victory and repeated his win in the 2009 final. With a whiff of the Olympic spirit omnipresent, Czech Michal Navratil made the extra step to the podium and finished third in front of more than 9,000 enth...

How does Olympic Diving compare to High Diving Listening to their individual stories, the first steps were very similar: No matter how high your ambition and talent takes you in the future, it all starts at the side of the pool. Stopovers on various heights are part of the way up for both, but as soon as it comes to the definition of ‘top’, opinions start to differ. The appreciation of each other, though, is as high as it can get. Ahead of the 3rd stop of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Se...

TUNNEL VISION The importance of reference points when diving from 27 metres Ever looked from bright sunshine into a cave? Or walked into one from clear daylight? Darkness. That is all you see. A black hole, nothing else. The human eye takes several minutes to adjust to the change in light. Without any points of reference you would need to a rope to find your way. However, what if you are travelling at 85kph and only have three seconds to make it through this dark tunnel safely? And, if you...

A MEXICAN DAY IN THE LIFE OF A CLIFF DIVER The Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series gets into the rhythm for the second stop in Mexico Coming to Mexico means a change of pace. The day begins relaxed and the Latin American spirit and love for life builds up hourly before it peaks as the air cools down again late in the evening. This rhythm applies perfectly to the high diving elite who have come to the Yucatán Peninsula for the second competition of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series this...

DUQUE DECIDES HEAVYWEIGHT BATTLE Orlando Duque wins first stop of Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series 2011 The navel of the world – that’s what Rapa Nui is for its inhabitants and that’s what the remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean was for the world elite of high diving this weekend. The kick-off competition of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series 2011 was affected by the Tsunami warning but blessed by the Manu Tara’s – the lucky bird’s – presence and watched by an eager audien...

GARY HUNT: OUT OF THIS WORLD 2nd victory for the Briton in Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series 2010 in Yucatán His personal perception of cliff diving is "out of this world" and Gary Hunt's performance these days can also be described as not of this world: the 25-year-old's innovative style and creativity culminated in the second consecutive win at Sunday's competition of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series 2010 in Yucatán, Mexico. The exotic surrounding of Cenote Ik Kil was the perfect ven...

The PURITY and SPIRIT of the sport What makes cliff diving so fascinating? What makes the sport's spirit so strong? A pure sport in a pure location -- no technical gear, no extensive constructions, it's merely all about the body and mind. Besides a solid platform at a minimum height of 26m and 5m deep water these world-class sports competitions only ask for a lot of courage and body control. Is it the very simplicity of this high level sport that makes you addicted? How do you find the perfec...

50,000 spectators, 27.50 metres, 14° water temperature and an English winner - the sport’s most distinguished series of competitions started with the victory of cliff diver Gary Hunt. On May 15 the historic port of La Rochelle hosted the eagerly-anticipated high diving battle and it exceeded all expectations. The spectators’ never-ending cheering motivated the athletes to flaunt their jaw-dropping leaps from Saint Nicolas Tower. Orlando Duque (COL) and Kent De Mond (USA) finished second and t...

THE MIND THE BODY La Rochelle is the first stop in the fresh season, the divers are not used yet to the extraordinary height and the cold and hard water combined with strong winds challenges them a lot. The diver has to be ready in his mind to execute a perfect and creative leap from the edge.

HIGH DIVING IN “LITTLE CLIFF” Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series kicks off in La Rochelle in May 2010 The highest platform, the coldest water, the most eagerly-anticipated competition – the French city of La Rochelle compiles a long list of superlatives for high diving. After overwhelming success in its first year, the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series will again kick off in the town called “little cliff” which, after heavy winter storms, is now ready to host this dazzling competition. It wa...

French cliff divers defend Fort Boyard from British conquest. In the early 19th century it was Napoleon who built the massive Fort off the French coast to protect his country from British invaders. 200 years later French world class high divers Hassan Mouti (FRA) and Cyrille Oumedjkane (FRA) met their British rival Gary Hunt for a trial of strength only a few weeks before the start of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series 2010 in La Rochelle on May 15.