Au revoir La Rochelle! Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series…

Over 70,000 spectators flooded the city’s port Saturday afternoon, for the first leg of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in La Rochelle, France.

Russia’s Artem Silchenko took first place victory, telling Red Bull:

“It’s been an amazing day. I’ve never been on the podium here before and today I win. There were a lot of people, a lot of emotion, it was very nice! I need more experience of my new dive but it’s almost there. Can I win the World Series? I come only for victory.”

Reigning World Series Champion, Gary Hunt took second position, just ahead of fellow Englishman Blake Aldridge…

This is what they had to say:

Gary:   “I made no major mistakes but threw up a bit of splash on my first and second dives today. It’s a world of difference between the start I had last year and here I just felt much more comfortable – not too scared, just the right amount of scared! – but got pipped by Artem who dived incredibly and the win went to the best man on the day.”

Blake: “I said before that I just wanted to make the final and do four good dives. I did three amazing dives and one good dive so it’s a better start to the season than I expected. I’ve made my first podium and I’m over the moon.”

The results stand as follows:

1. Artem Silchenko | RUS | 487.05
2. Gary Hunt | UK | 469.30
3. Blake Aldridge | UK | 448.20
4. Orlando Duque | COL | 411.20
5. Michal Navratil | CZE | 406.40
6. Jonathan Paredes | MEX | 406.25
7. David Colturi | USA | 377.90
8. Steven LoBue | USA | 372.65
9. Alain Kohl (wildcard) | LUX | 262.50
10. Hassan Mouti (wildcard) | FRA | 256.30
11. Cyrille Oumedjkane (wildcard) | FRA | 248.60
12. Anatoliy Shabotenko | UKR | 220.80
13. Todor Spasov (wildcard) | BUL | 203.10
14. Matt Cowen | UK | 178.20

Next Stop Denmark – June 21/22