Champion cliff diver Rhiannan Iffland reveals what she’s afraid of on Mental As Anyone podcast

An Australian champion athlete has made a surprising confession while speaking on the Mental As Anyone podcast.

It is a feeling professional diver Rhiannan Iffland has every time she takes to the platform.

The seven-time world champion is favourite going into the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series finals at Sydney Harbour this weekend.

“It is not nice to walk into an event and know that you’ve got that target on your back because you are the champion,” Iffland said in a wide-ranging interview for the Mental As Anyone podcast.

“You feel it. You feel it from the competition and you kind of look at things a little bit differently, but I think it also helps me grow as an athlete and as a person too. You get used to it though.”

Rhiannan Iffland, pictured during the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in 2023. revealed she was afraid of heights on the Mental As Anyone podcast. Picture: Dean Treml/ Red Bull

Iffland, 33, said she was addicted to the rush of jumping from death-defying heights.

“Being involved in a sport with so many emotions and fears, it’s kind of always a rollercoaster in my sport,” Iffland said before listing her fears: “spiders, being alone, heights, you’d be surprised”.

The champion diver has been at the top of her sport for many years and has no plans of slowing down any time soon.

Aussie cliff diver Rhiannan Iffland at Bronte Beach. Picture: Rohan Kelly

She is confident the sport will one day be recognised at the Olympics. Before cliff diving, she trained at the NSW Institute of Sport with the likes of Olympic divers Matthew Mitcham and Melissa Wu.

“I’ve been an athlete for over 20 years now, it is a sport where you take one step forward, and one step back. There’s always something to improve on,” she said. “That’s quite a fulfilling thing is to chase perfection and continue working on it.

What’s next though is something that niggles at the back of Iffland’s mind.

World champion cliff diver Rhiannon Iffland spoke about the pressure of being a world champion on the Mental As Anyone podcast.

Rhiannan Iffland competes in the preliminary round of the women's 20m high diving event during the 2024 World Aquatics Championships at Doha Port. Picture: Sebastien Bozon/AFP

“I originally wanted to join the police force when I was younger so I had a bit of a plan,” she told Mental As Anyone.

“I think I’ve got a few years left in me in what I am doing so that will be the next thing I need to think about. I think it is the fear of what I do next and how am I going to find something that is going to excite me. I couldn’t see myself as a nine-to-fiver.”

* A new episode of Mental As Anyone drops each Tuesday.

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