Cliff Diving
How Gary Hunt scored cliff diving's first perfect 10
The British seven-time champion finally got his hands on cliff diving's Holy Grail when he registered scores of 10 across the board in Beirut recently. Here's how it happened.
Now in its 11th season, loyal followers of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series may be forgiven for thinking they'd seen it all; dives of ever-growing complexity, record-breaking win streaks and new high scores posted regularly.
Despite these stunning achievements, one special box on the list of World Series milestones had been left conspicuously unticked for all these years. That was until the remarkable Gary Hunt stepped up to the platform in Beirut, Lebanon and finally laid his hands on the sport's Holy Grail.
You can watch that perfect dive in the player at the top of the page
The quest for the perfect cliff dive – five straight 10s from the judges – is nothing new. Ever since those first tentative leaps back in 2009, the athletes have sought perfection. Every twist, every tuck, every little motion will be precisely executed en route to a laser-guided entry into the water.
Former champion, Russia's Artem Silchenko, perhaps summed it up best when he once said: "One dive is a million details. You have to know all the details. If you have a small mistake it's already not a 10."
On the hunt for perfection
© Romina Amato/Red Bull Content Pool
Every detail of the dive had to be flawless
© Dean Treml/Red Bull Content Pool
A celebratory fist pump
© Ricardo Nascimento/Red Bull Content Pool
Hunt is congratulated by Jonathan Paredes
© Dean Treml/Red Bull Content Pool
While not a common occurrence, one, two or three 10s have been awarded for a single dive a total of 126 times. Before the new Beirut stop, however, the true perfect dive had only been flirted with a couple of times.
Silchenko was the first to come close when four judges flashed 10s at Copenhagen in 2013. Three years later, Mexico's Jonathan Paredes popped his head out of the Possum Kingdom Lake waters in Texas following a trademark rip entry to be greeted by the same.
Which brings us to the judges themselves. What is their description of perfection?
"It's a wow-factor," says Australian Steve Foley, a judge since 2011. "It's a dive that almost gets you out of your chair, you want to start clapping and applauding because it's really exciting; it's just grabbed your attention and it's got all the aspects you want, the great take-off, the power, the aesthetics, the beauty and of course the great rip entry."
It's this that makes Hunt's feat from Pigeon Rocks all the more remarkable. Not only was it a technically precise dive from take-off to entry, but more importantly it seems the stars aligned in a way that each of the five judges who witnessed it were struck by that magical wow factor. Ttalking of stars aligning, how fitting it is that Hunt, seven-time champion and holder of multiple records, was the one who finally claimed the most elusive record of all.
Hunt, 35, credited his diving rivals for pushing the boundaries and helping drive him to perfection. He said: “I absolutely feel pressure. It’s so much easier for me when there is a fight – when there are other divers doing well. It’s more enjoyable as well. I want to be in a battle, I don’t want to have it easy and so I try to use it.”
Paredes revealed: "It seems like he has no pressure, like he has no feelings. Whenever you see him, he seems to be on another planet. After (my) three 10s in Portugal, he does that dive… it's like, 'What can we do against that?'"
As Hunt cruises to what should be title number eight, that same question will be on the lips of every other cliff diver too. He has completed the quest for perfection and now his rivals must ramp up their quest to catch him.
Find out if anyone can come close at the next stop of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina on August 24.
10s in Red Bull Cliff Diving
- There have been 4,390 men's and women's competition dives to date and 126 scores of 10
- Most 10s in one dive: Hunt (5) in Beirut in 2019
- Most men's 10s scored: Silchenko (37), Hunt (34) and Paredes (22)
- Most women's 10s scored: Rhiannan Iffland (5), Ginger Huber (1)
- 2017 was the only year without any 10s
Gary Hunt's Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series records
- Seven World Series titles including 38 wins in 77 stops
- Highest score optional dive: 156.00pts (Beirut, 2019)
- Highest competition score: 453.70pts (Copenhagen, 2018, with two 10s)
- Performer of the hardest cliff dive to date: 5.6 degree of difficulty in Texas 2017 (double in, double out; not performed currently)