England’s Gary Hunt returned to imperious form to score his second victory of the season in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in doing so reclaimed a lead at the top of the men’s overall standings. American Steven LoBue also repeated his best result of the season by taking second place, while 22-year-old wildcard and World Series debutante, Nikita Fedotov of Russia, produced a surprising but stunning performance to finish in third in front of 17,000 enthusiastic fans. In the women’s, Cesilie Carlton of the US put a poor season behind her to fire to a first victory since 2015, with Australia’s Helena Merten finishing in second place and German wildcard Anna Bader in third.
Much of the build up to this event had centred around Hunt’s previous struggles from bridges at World Series events, as in four competitions from bridge into river he has failed to land on top of the podium, as well as his recent dip in form from 27m. But in one afternoon he proved the doubters wrong on both counts, returning to his brilliant best to hold off the roaring challenge of an inspired LoBue and grab his 30th victory in 64 stops.
“I definitely felt like this was a really important competition when you look at the Series. I arrived here and on the second day I read an article saying that I’ve never won a competition on a bridge and that kind of got to me and I said to myself ‘okay, I’m going to show you I can dive off a bridge’, “ Gary Hunt said.
“It’s definitely exciting when the season is open on that last event. It’s a very strange feeling to finish the season when it’s already wrapped up. So it means it’s going to be a super exciting and fun event, but I’ll be carrying this victory with me and hopefully that confidence is going to help me win,” American Cesilie Carlton said after the winners’ announcement ceremony.
This was a season of downs for me, so I feel amazing today, I’m ecstatic. The season was terrible for me, so come out and put four dives together, I’m beyond words. I’m so happy! The people here are amazing, the crowd is insane, you see them on the bridge and everywhere. It’s a great atmosphere.
Results – Stop #5, Mostar | BIH
MEN
1- Gary Hunt (GBR) – 400.90pts
2- Steven LoBue (USA) – 393.85
3- Nikita Fedotov (W) (RUS) – 376.25
4- Kris Kolanus (POL) – 376.10
5- Alessandro De Rose (W) (ITA) – 364.10
6- Jonathan Paredes (MEX) – 363.30
7- Michal Navratil (CZE) – 356.30
8- Sergio Guzman (MEX) – 268.30
9- Miguel Garcia (W) (COL) – 254.80
10- Blake Aldridge (GBR) – 234.70
11- David Colturi (USA) – 232.00
12- Oleksiy Prygorov (W) (UKR) – 222.50
13- Orlando Duque (COL) – 205.40
14- Andy Jones (USA) – 179.00
WOMEN
1- Cesilie Carlton (USA) – 316.40pts.
2- Helena Merten (AUS) – 314.30
3- Anna Bader (W) (GER) – 280.50
4- Adriana Jimenez (MEX) – 275.50
5- Ginger Huber (USA) – 267.20
6- Yana Nestsiarava (W) (BLR) – 247.25
7- Eleanor Townsend Smart (W) (USA) – 114.40
