Rhiannan started high diving in the circus. Now she’s an eight-time world champion
Rhiannan Iffland has dived from platforms next to the Eiffel Tower, above the Adriatic Sea and on top of the Boston Contemporary Institute of Art, but it’s the mention of Lake Macquarie that makes her eyes glow.
Iffland – born and raised in regional NSW – would spend her weekends diving off the natural platforms on Pulbah Island and looked forward to camping trips on the Allyn River, where she would plunge from the jump rocks, spotting the forests just north of Newcastle.
Back then, it seemed to Iffland like those jump rocks stood 10 storeys tall. She now boasts eight cliff diving world championships but still can’t shake that sinking feeling each time she looks over the 21-metre professional platform.
Iffland poses for a portrait ahead of the last round of the Red Bull Diving World Championship, in Sydney. Credit: Janie Barrett
“There’s never a time when I go up to the platform, and I don’t think to myself: ‘This is kind of high up here, what I am doing here?’” Iffland said. “Honestly, that thought does cross my mind.”
Iffland will confront her fears once again this weekend when she launches herself off a purpose-built platform on Sydney Harbour in the final of this year’s Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series.
The 33-year-old only joined the global circuit in 2016 after a four-year stint travelling the world as a high-dive circus entertainer aboard holiday cruise liners. This followed years of 10-metre platform diving, where she worked alongside Olympians Melissa Wu and Matthew Mitcham but struggled with the “repetitive” training regime.
Coach Chava Sobrino – who has trained Iffland since she was 13 – contends that Iffland’s diverse experience has given her an advantage over her competitors.
“Her journey from conventional diving to this crazy diving has helped her character develop and made her a lot mentally stronger,” Sobrino said. “But she’s exactly the same person – very easygoing, a great personality and amazing with the other team members.”
Rhiannan Iffland diving off the tower in the first round of the series on Sydney Harbour.Credit: Janie Barrett
Iffland will be crowned this season’s champion irrespective of what happens in Sydney after sealing her eighth consecutive title at the penultimate competition in Turkey weeks ago. She basked in the same fate at the inaugural Sydney event in 2022.
“You look to the left, and you have the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, and then you look to the right, and you have the harbour leading into the ocean,” Iffland said when asked about her memories of the first Sydney competition.
“Sometimes I was in such a hyper focus that I forgot to look what was around, but other times you really take it in.”
Iffland refuses to think too deeply about how she might celebrate another fruitful season following this weekend – top of mind is another victory in front of a home crowd and staving off the same fears she first felt as a child staring down Lake Macquarie.
“There’s so many nerves and emotions before the competition starts, but then it feels super powerful when you overcome those fears,” Iffland said. “Only when I finish the competition do I realise how much I really enjoyed it.”
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