Andrey Ignatenko (UKR) is the winner of the first stop of the Red Bull Cliff Diving Series 2009 by defeating nine-time World Champion Orlando Duque (COL) and Gary Hunt (GBR) in a thrilling competition. On May 8, 30,000 spectators welcomed the world’s best high divers in La Rochelle, France.
Diving from a 27.5-meter platform on Saint Nicolas Tower in the French city of La Rochelle, windy conditions and 16 degree cold water challenged the 13 participants to compete at the highest sportive level at the first stop of the Red Bull Cliff Diving Series 2009 on May 8. Without a single training dive, Andrey Ignatenko of Ukraine felt most comfortable with the enormous height of 27.5 meters and took the lead right after the second round of the competition. The 44-year-old from Kiev showed three excellently performed dives and earned the highest overall score of 317.3 points.
‘I’m really happy with this victory! I tried to stay on the safe side for the first contest and never intended to win. I feel really fit and well prepared even without diving from more than five meters for training reasons. It’s part of my preparation to watch the other athletes during training, but I only high dive in the main competition. The six weeks until the next stop will be hard for me as I am looking forward to it.’ Orlando Duque from Colombia (307.65) and youngster Gary Hunt from Great Britain (298.95) were relegated to second and third place.
Boats, window sills and roof tops as well as all streets around the ancient port of La Rochelle served as platforms for the enthusiastic audience. Motivated by their countrymen’s 60,000 clapping hands the French divers Hassan Mouti and Cyrille Oumedjkane excelled their expectations and used the two-hour time slot between high and low tide to prove their excellent high diving skills. However, the oldest diver in the field of participants was unbeatable and outscored all his contenders on this May 8, 2009. Wild card diver Laurent Fischer (FRA) had a hard landing in the last round and remained uninjured.
The idyllic Gallic city at the Bay of Biscay was the location for the first ever cliff diving competition held in France and the emblematic Saint Nicolas Tower – a former point of defense and then a jail – the perfect take-off spot for the divers’ aesthetic three-second flight. The location for the next tour stop will be Rotterdam, Netherlands, on June 20.
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