France's Hunt, Australia's Iffland rule Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series anew

EL NIDO, Palawan – They came, they saw, they conquered — once again.

On a torrid Sunday afternoon at the iconic limestone cliffs of the Big Lagoon here, Gary Hunt of France and Rhiannan Iffland of Australia saw themselves in a familiar throne as they were six years ago after topping the explosive opening leg of the 2025 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series.

The two winningest divers in history proved their worth in contrasting fashions to reign supreme in the first leg that featured four high-octane rounds around the famed islands of El Nido, where they were also crowned in 2019 when the gravity-defying world series made its Philippine debut.

Hunt, a wildcard this season after a short hiatus, did it via a stunning comeback in Rounds 3 and 4 to set the pace in his drive for an unprecedented 11th title overall as Iffland cruised to a runaway victory to bolster her ninth straight championship.

The 40-year-old French-British started at sixth spot in Round 1 at the Lagen Island but climbed to fourth for Round 2 at the Small Lagoon. He then topped the last two rounds on a combined degree of difficulty of 10.1 at the Big Lagoon in the Miniloc Islands to cap a stellar run with 422.10 points.

Runaway leader in the first two rounds, the 33-year-old Iffland finished second in Round 3 and topped the fourth round to accumulate 352.95 points behind a combined degree of difficulty of 8.1

Aside from their whopping collection of world series mints, Hunt is also a two-time diving world champion while Iffland holds four crowns as the 24-strong world series troops to Italy, and Bosnia and Herzegovina next before the final leg in Boston.

Both plunged into El Nido’s pristine water last in the finale, literally saving their best for last as they can now call themselves the two-time El Nido king and queen, as well.

“I had to fight back into the season as a wildcard so the pressure is on. I enjoy what I’m doing and I enjoy the pressure. The story was making a comeback and I couldn’t realize a better place to do it but in El Nido,” said Hunt.

“Winning never gets old. I think we all know it. But there is more to winning. The pursuit of perfection never gets old. I’m just super stoked to finish it off like that and take the top of the podium again here in the Philippines,” said Iffland.

Previous leader Constantin Popovici (381.15) of Romania lost steam in the final two rounds to settle for third place as Mexico’s Jonathan Paredes (381.90) zoomed to second with the smallest of margins after a second-place finish behind Hunt in the final round.

In the women’s division, Kaylea Arnett (320.65) of the United States and Ukraine’s Nelli Chukanivska (313.80) completed the podium, respectively.

Arnett, a sophomore world series diver, avenged her 11th-place finish in the second round with a podium in Round 3 and the top spot in Round 4 to seal the silver medal while Chukanivska slid from steady second to third.

Filipina American-bet Xantheia Pennisi (261.40) finished eighth, one rank higher than her placing in 2019 in front of her home fans.

Ukraine’s Oleksiy Prygorov (353.35), Armenia’s Nikita Fedotov (328.10), Mexico’s Yolotl Martinez (313.85), Colombia’s Miguel Garcia (270.60), New Zealand’s Braden Rumpit (247.35), USA’s James Lichtenstein (219.65) and Italy’s Andrea Barnaba (DNF) completed the men’s order.

In the women’s category, USA’s Meili Carpenter (280.20), Canada’s Molly Carlson (279.65) and Simone Leathead (275.90), Germany’s Iris Schmidbauer (265.95), Colombia’s Maria Paula Quintero (260.60), Italy’s Elisa Cosetti (255.55), the Netherlands’ Ginni Van Katwijk (231.00) and USA’s Eleanor Smart (223.60) finished in ranks, respectively.