EL NIDO, PALAWAN—Gary Hunt and Rhiannan Iffland kicked off this year’s Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series with dominant showings—the kind that have been synonymous with their names.

A wild card for this season, the 10-time world champion Hunt turned in two first-place dives in the final two rounds on Saturday at the Big Lagoon in Miniloc Island here, the last being a dazzling back three somersaults four twists off a free launch to rack up a total of 422.10 points that sealed his victory in the first of four stops this year.

“The pressure was on, but I did what I had to do,” said Hunt, who also revealed that he had cut his feet in one of the many climbs to the platform in one of the jagged cliffs of the island.

“The story was already there: Making a comeback from taking a year off, I couldn’t have asked for a better place to do it,” added the British French Olympian, a fixture of this extreme version of diving who also won the El Nido leg six years ago.

Eight-time world champ

Over at the distaff side, it was business as usual for the Aussie Iffland, who put up 352.95 to put a rising star in her place.

“I wasn’t really sure that I could do it. The training was a bit up and down in the last few weeks,” said the defending and eight-time world champion, who capped off her first leg bid with an inward three somersaults half twist off a tuck. “Yeah, just super stoked to finish it off like that and take the top spot on the podium again.”

Mexico’s Jonathan Paredes (381.90) and 2023 champion Constantin Popovici (381.50) pushed Hunt all the way, but it was the latter’s experience that stood out.

American Kaylea Arnett, who opened the competition with a win last Friday, settled for second overall with 320.65. Ukraine’s Nelli Chukanivska (313.80) rounded out the podium in women’s play. INQ