Cliff Diving
Red Bull Cliff Diving: format and scoring
Everything you need to know about the format, judging and scoring process at a Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series competition.
Competition Format
The competition format can change due to local dive condition difficulties.
Ahead of each competition a draw determines the diving order for the 1st round. Divers hand in their four planned dives the day before the first day of competition.
Each tour stop features up to four wildcards; their results count the same as for any of the permanent divers.
A diver must perform at least one dive in competition to be included in the final result.
MEN | WOMEN
8 permanent athletes + 4 wildcards
Day 1:
Round
Dives
Max dive difficulty
1
1 Required Dive
2.8 | 2.6
2
1 Intermediate Dive
3.6 | 3.4
Day 2:
Round
Dive
Notes
3
1 Optional Dive
Reverse starting order based on the previous round’s cumulative score.
Final round
1 Optional Dive
Reverse starting order based on the previous round’s cumulative score.
Optional Dive Rounds: No capped Degree of Difficulty (DD). Every element of the dive counts as per DD table in the rule book.
The winner of any individual stop is the diver with the highest point total from this competition after four dives.
Points per competition
Points are awarded from 1st to last place, including wildcards.
The points from each competition are tallied to produce the World Series ranking. All individual competition results count for the World Series overall ranking.
Position
Points
1st
200
2nd
160
3rd
130
4th
110
5th
92
6th
76
7th
62
8th
50
9th
39
10th
29
11th
20
12th
12
In 2021, a scratch result will be implemented for all participants of the World Series in anticipation of the current health and travel situation. Find all details in the rulebook.
Degree of Difficulty
The degree of difficulty of each dive – also known as DD – is calculated based on the difficulty of the execution of each manoeuvre and the junction of each dive component.
- Type of take off
- Number of somersaults
- Number of twists
- Position during the somersaults
- Type of entry
Rhiannan Iffland on her way to high scores in the Azores
© Dean Treml/Red Bull Content Pool
The DD table was adjusted for the 2017 World Series in alignment with FINA and since then ranges from 2.6 (women) and 2.8 (men) for the Required Dives up to 5.6 for the sport’s currently hardest dives.
Required dives – the maximum DD for a required dive is 2.8 | 2.6; no matter which dive the athletes show – even if the calculated DD is higher.
Intermediate dives – the maximum DD for an intermediate dive is 3.6 | 3.4; no matter which dive the athletes show – even if the calculated DD is higher.
Optional dives – no maximum DD, all elements count.
According to the official Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series rulebook, the jury has to judge what is seen and not what wants to be seen. Moreover, each dive has to be judged disregarding any bias toward the diver or dive to ensure an objective result.
Jury
Five international jurors judge each dive on the following criteria:
- Take off
- Position in the air
- Entry in the water
Judges
Five judges: one head judge and four judges will be selected for each competition from a pool of 12 members. Judges for each stop will be chosen based on geographical location of the event and availability.
- Claudio de Miro (ITA): Former Italian diving team member, head judge
- Anke Piper (GER): Three-time European champion 10m, head judge
- Antonio Martinez (MEX): FINA judge, former diver and high diver, head judge
- Cyrille Oumedjkane (FRA): FINA judge, World Series diver between 2009 and 2016
- Dmitry Sautin (RUS): Two-time Olympic Gold medallist, five-time World Champion, 12-time European Champion
- Ildiko Kelemen (HUN): Participant, Olympic Games Moscow 1980 and Seoul 1988
- Jeff Arbon (AUS): Participant, Olympic Games Seoul 1988
- Julian Llinas (ESP): FINA judge, judge at three Olympic Games
- Marion Reiff (AUT): Participant, Olympic Games Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004
- Olivier Morneau-Ricard (CAN): FINA judge, former Canadian diving team member
- Simon Latimer (NZL): Former New Zealand Diving Team Member, three-time Olympic judge
- Steve Foley (AUS): Triple Olympian (1976, 1980, 1984)
The judges score 10s across the board for Gary Hunt
© Dean Treml/Red Bull Content Pool
Scores
Calculation of total score of each competition:
- Five scores by five judges.
- Scores based on a scale of 0 to 10 in half point increments.
- Judges score the dives without assistance.
- Highest and lowest score are discarded.
- Remaining three scores are added together.
- This sum is multiplied by the degree of difficulty for each dive.
- Scores from all four rounds are cumulated for the final competition result.
- Balks will constitute a deduction from each judge’s score as directed by the Head Judge.
- Points will be awarded from 1st to 14th place.
