Sheffield star Archie Biggin makes splash high diving in Austria with Red Bull legends
and live on Freeview channel 276
Archie Biggin, aged 14, who trains with Sheffield Diving Club at Ponds Forge, made waves on a trip to a high diving facility in Austria where met sponsored athletes David Colturi and Rhiannan Iffland and trained alongside the Italian national team.
It saw him leap from 16m - 52ft - and perform gymnastic moves before hitting the water feet first. The board at Ponds Forge is 10m (32ft).
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad
Dad James said Archie had spent years developing his high diving skills and the Austrian trip was intended to prove his abilities.
He said: “With what we know and what we are told by many of the cliff divers, who are very excited by him, he is the only person in the UK under 18 doing this very unique and, possibly crazy, style of diving to this level.”
Now they hope high diving is included in the junior world championships in Montreal in December - and that Archie is picked to represent his country.
James added: “The progress he has made above 10m has blown our minds. He has dived from 16m which is crazy!
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“We know back home the club are all buzzing for him and want to talk to the governing body after we have sent them videos of what he has been doing.”
Archie has been diving at Ponds Forge since the age of six and competes nationally, James said.
But since the age of 10 he has been developing the specific skills needed for cliff diving.
He added: “The videos and photos we have will be so useful to talk to the right people once back home. But the high diving sport has seen him and they are buzzing too!”
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdHigh diving debuted at a FINA water sports federation event at the 2013 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona.
In the world championships, men jump from a 27-metre-high (89 ft) platform while women jump from a 20-metre-high (66 ft) platform.
In other official competitions, men generally dive from a height of 22–27 metres (72–89 ft) while women dive from a height of 18–23 metres (59–75 ft).