It jumps again: Iris Schmidbauer took part in the first Red Bull Cliff Diving in France.
There the Pähler had to fight.
The long break from competition made itself felt.
Nevertheless, she dared a mega jump in the final.
Saint-Raphaël - The athletes in front of Iris Schmidbauer had a good party.
Before they plunged into the sea from a height of 21 meters, Jaki Valente (Brazil) and Genevieve Bradley (USA) waved in a good mood to the audience, making those sitting on boats, kayaks and surfboards cheer and make noise.
The cliff diver from Pähl, on the other hand, refrained from any animation.
She tackled the fourth, final round of “Red Bull Cliff Diving” near Saint-Raphaël with full concentration.
When she was ready to jump, Schmidbauer breathed clearly twice more.
Schmidbauer shows the most difficult jump in the final
It was noticeable to the 26-year-old that not everything was so easy for her at the start of the season.
The long break from competitions - there was no cliff diving series due to Corona in 2020 - and the lack of opportunity to jump from heights of over ten meters during their stay in New Zealand (we reported) made themselves felt.
The last Red Bull Cliff Diving took place in Bilbao in September 2019.
A few days before the start of the season in France, the Pähler had at least the opportunity to train for two days in the "Area 47" in Haiming (Tyrol).
But that already showed the challenge she was facing: She actually wanted to do the first high dive from 17 meters, but on the platform she spontaneously decided against it.
"I had to go to the 15-meter platform and slowly work my way up."
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Fear of heights prohibited: In France, the platforms were attached directly to cliffs.
In the photo you can see Iris Schmidbauer in flight.
© Red Bull Content Pool
Getting back into competition mode and overcoming the fear of doing 20-meter jumps "was a tough and crazy ride," said Schmidbauer afterwards.
Even the easier jumps had become downright scary to her after such a long break.
At least she was quite happy with the dives in the first two rounds.
“Not quite what I can do yet, but good enough,” was the conclusion.
When there was a new jump in the third round and her most difficult jump in the final, "thousands of butterflies raced through my stomach," revealed Schmidbauer.
In the final round, the paler performed a triple somersault jumping backwards with two screws. It has a difficulty of 4.3 in the official rating list - no other athlete chose such a high level in the final round. But when it comes to cliff jumping, the most important thing is the execution. And then Schmidbauer made a mishap: In the last part of the flight (a Barani), in order to get the last turn and land with her feet first in the water, she had to leave the stretch and pull her legs up. The judges look very closely at something like this - and punish deviations with high deductions. In retrospect, says Schmidbauer, “I'm sure I could have kept my legs stretched”. But after such a long time without jumping from a great height, she reacted in such a way “to protect myself”.The athletes dive into the water at speeds of up to 85 km / h. Schmidbauer knew straight away that the jump would not bring her many points. Immediately after surfacing, she made a disappointed gesture with her hands.
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Full concentration, maximum effort: The photo shows Iris Schmidbauer immediately after jumping from the platform, which is installed 21 meters above the water.
The jumpers are in the air for a maximum of three seconds.
Diving into the water must always be done with the feet first due to the high speed.
© Red Bull Content Pool / Alex Voyer
Due to the low rating by the judges (whose grades are multiplied by the level of difficulty) Schmidbauer was no longer able to push himself forward.
The two-time World Cup participant had to be content with ninth place (219.65 points) among twelve jumpers.
It won top favorite Rhiannan Iffland (Australia) with 376.45 points.
The second German in the field, Anna Bader (37), came in seventh (257.95).
Of course, Schmidbauer is not discouraged by the start. She is looking forward to the other competitions this year and wants to “work as hard as possible to improve myself”. However, the Pähler also has a disadvantage compared to the competition: She does not have her own trainer and no external sponsors. Now that she has returned from New Zealand, she still has to look where she can find training opportunities. Cliff jumping is very important in Canada. There is even the opportunity to do 20-meter jumps indoors. In France, Canadians Molly Carlson (313.30) and Jessica Macaulay (300.55) finished second and third. Schmidbauer can at least plan for all Red Bull competitions: She is one of eight fixed starters this year. The next competition will take place on 14.August in Norway's capital Oslo.
