Abu Dhabi: Defending champion Gary Hunt of Britain was straightaway into what he is best at — clinical, precision diving.
Hunt started his title defence at the FINA High Diving World Cup with two flawless rounds to finish at the top of the leaderboard with an aggregate of 205.8 points on Friday at Yas Island.
Going into the last two rounds, he is closely followed by American Steve LoBue on 204.90 points.
LoBue displayed a stunning five somersault and half twist in round two to leapfrog into the second spot after finishing round one on ninth.
On third, was Michal Navratil of Czech Republic with 185.15 while Hunt’s compatriot Blake Aldridge with 182.20 points was fourth.
A lot was expected from last year’s runner-up Jonathan Paredes. The Mexican had landed in the capital armed with his new dive — a four somersault and a one-and-half twist but he failed to execute it to perfection.
He was the last one on the board but his latest difficult plunge didn’t impress the judges as he was unable to manage a smooth entry into the water and is currently placed seventh.
“Last year, I was second place. The challenge is always getting harder against everyone especially Gary. But we are pushing hard and I was hoping my new dive will work. I want to do my best and hopefully try and get as close to test Gary,” said the Mexican, who felt that there is very little room for error in this sport.
“The only way to match the rest of the field is by continuing to evolve. What I’m trying to do this year is to try and raise the DD (degree of difficulty), that’s what I need. Last year, I was presenting the lowest difficulty in the competition. This year at least I’m trying to push hard. I hope to beat Gary once as he doesn’t give you any chance,” said Paredes, who brushed aside the possibility of changing his dive again in case it fails to reap him dividends here. “I want to show only one dive, because I want to do it well. I don’t want to show four new dives and do it 50-50. I’m hoping this is the best one and I want to push Gary a little bit and put some pressure.”
Defending champion in the women’s category, Lysanne Richard of Canada, was looking to take the same path that she took last year to retain her title but her going wasn’t that great either.
Her Back Flying 1 somersault put her in ninth place after the first round and she was later pushed down to 11th spot after round two with an aggregate total of 113.10 points.
Richard has a Herculean task in front of her and will have to take a rabbit out of her hat, in the remaining two rounds, if she is to come anywhere close to being on the podium.
“For this competition, it was the same DD but during the year I will build a new DD but for this competition it is better to be confident with the stuff I know well,” said Richard adding, “I feel I was diving well and I’m really not looking at the position. I’m really aiming to do well for myself and to be proud. If I do well and rank last, I won’t be unhappy.”
Mexican Rita Trejo Jimenez led the table with a total of 166.30 points while Australia’s Rhiannan Iffland with 151.60 points was second, followed by Ginger Huber of United States with 147.90 points.
