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DIVING

Swiss man makes biggest cliff dive ever

A Swiss man has broken the world record for cliff jumping by leaping 58.8 metres from a precipice into water in the Maggia valley in the canton of Ticino.

Published: 20 August 2015 10:04 CEST
Swiss man makes biggest cliff dive ever
The area of Ponte Brolla is popular with cliff divers. Photo: Irene Grassi

Brazil-born Lazaro Schaller, who grew up in Switzerland, broke the previous record of 53.9m, held by another Swiss man, Olivier Favre, since 1987.

Schaller hit the water at a speed of 120 kilometres an hour 3.5 seconds after jumping from a special platform at the cliff top, erected so that he wouldn’t hit the rock face on the way down.

“I needed to keep myself as vertical as possible,” he told newspaper 20 Minutes.

“With more space I could have even done a somersault.”

Given the water below was just eight metres deep, Schaller’s support team used divers to place oxygen bottles in the water to break the surface, reducing the impact.

The worst outcome would have been for Schaller to hit the water with his back or bottom, risking serious injury or even paralysis.

Despite his good entry position, he nevertheless tore a ligament in his knee.

“For sure, I’m going to limp a bit for a while,” he told the paper.

Previous record holder Favre wasn’t so lucky.

On his jump in 1987 he hit the water hard and fractured his spine.

Speaking to newspaper Le Matin he said: “Even for a billion francs I wouldn’t do it again.”

The Swiss canton of Ticino is a popular place for cliff jumpers and high divers.

The World High Diving Federation hosts the International Cliff Diving Championship in Ponte Brolla every year.

Watch Schaller’s record-breaking jump here:

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OFFBEAT

German named ‘arse bombing’ world champ

Summer went out with a bang - and a splash - in southwest Germany, where the finals of the "arse bombing“ world championship 2015 were held on Sunday.

Published: 31 August 2015 12:55 CEST
German named 'arse bombing' world champ
Going down with a bang. The splash diving championships 2015. Photo: DPA

On first appearance arse bombing – or as its officially known 'splash diving' – is to diving what dancing drunkenly in a nightclub is to ballet. Elegant it is most certainly not.

But it is also a sport which requires a great deal of athleticism… and a bit of bravery too, judging by the sound made when contestants hit the water.

Whereas in diving, contestants are judged upon their ability to land as smoothly as possible in the water, in splash diving points are awarded for the size of the splash that is created on impact.

But leading competitors say that it doesn't hurt as much as it looks.

“The pain is minimal,” said newly-crowned world champion Rainhard Riede from Bavaria, adding that the more often he jumps the less it hurts.

“You get used to it,” said pre-competition favourite Lukas Eglseder.

That takes some believing seeing, as one of the most popular ways of hitting the water is in a position known as”the potato” – a head and knees first impact from a height of ten metres.

Contestants can choose from 13 ways of hitting the water, including the classic 'arse bomb' – landing bum first with knees tucked into the stomach. Other shapes are called 'the cat,' 'the chair and – particularly painful sounding – 'the plank.'

Finnish contestant Tuukka Palonen explains the point of the sport thus: “It's simply about having a huge amount of fun.”

Palonen, who works in the summer as a “clown diver” in his home country, made the 22-hour trip by car to compete in the competition.

But it's not just about the impact. Riede managed to get his hands on the prize through performing an impressive array of somersaults and twists before hitting the water with maximum impact.

Jürgen Hellmuth, a corpulent 33-year-old who impressed the crowd with the heftiness of his landings, explained that his weight was a disadvantage. Being heavier meant he fell quicker than lighter competitors and had less time to perform moves.

And in the women's competition a German also walked away with gold, even if she had no competition. Franziska Fritz, a 15-year-old from Saarland, won the competition for the third year in a row but bemoaned the lack of female interest in the sport.

“It's a shame that I'm always so alone,” she said, guessing that women were put off the sport by the apparent pain involved.

But here message was the same as that of the men.

“You get used to the pain,” she said.

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