FINA World Championships 2013: Duque, the King in Barcelona!

AKUATIK, He was already the most iconic athlete in High Diving. His successes at the Cliff Diving World Series, his charisma and his experience (38 years old) had made Orlando Duque, from Colombia, a symbol of this thrilling and challenging discipline. Today, in the port of Barcelona (ESP) he officially became the first men’s world champion in High Diving, after a brilliant final, in which he was able to mix technique, steadiness and harmony in all three dives he performed. Moreover, he also won the first title ever for Colombia in the history of the FINA World Championships. Duque, literally meaning Duke, was this time King in Barcelona!

In the end of the two-day competition – the first two dives for each of the 13 participating athletes in this première were executed on July 29 -, the Colombian star concluded in 590.20, a mere 0.90 points ahead of silver medallist, Gary Hunt, from Great Britain. Hunt, 10 years young than Duque, was the fourth after Monday’s preliminaries, but two very solid dives (DD 3.8 and 6.3!) allowed him to gain the leadership after the fourth round. But a less successful last combination (DD 5.6) dictated his second place. The bronze went to Jonathan Paredes, the 23-year-old athlete from Mexico, who was also third after the first session of heats.

Duque has been competing in this sport for the last 15 years, and was the man to beat in this final, but Hunt, the winner of the World Series in the last three years had also the eyes at the first official world title in High Diving. Presenting the most difficult dives of the final – notably the above mentioned 6.3, an impressive three somersaults and four twists, the highest possible DD in diving -, the British star is known for pushing always further the boundaries of difficulty in the sport he loves.

Paredes is the rookie of the company. At 23, the Mexican diver is evolving very fast and has demonstrated in the past two years that the fear of the height is now just a bad memory