Breaking news Carlson ready to live a dream as Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series lands in Montreal
Carlson prepares to realize a dream when Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series arrives in Montreal.
NanaimoNewsNOW covers local news, sports, weather, real estate, and classifieds. By Canadian Press Carlson is excited for the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, which will take place in Montreal on August 22, 2024, at 2:59 PM. MONTREAL — Molly Carlson can’t believe what she sees out the window of her downtown Montreal home these days. The Canadian high diver is accustomed to travelling around the world on the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series and propelling herself from great heights. But this weekend, the circuit, which began in 2009, will make its debut appearance in Canada, with tall platforms set up in the heart of Carlson’s adoptive city. Montreal hosts the tour’s sixth stop of the season at the Port of Montreal’s Grand Quay.Competition begins Friday and goes through Sunday afternoon’s final along the St. Lawrence River.
“For Red Bull Cliff Diving to come to Canada for the first time is a dream come true. The country has never seen this kind of sport before.”
The event is free, and organizers are expecting tens of thousands to watch in Montreal’s Old Port.
Carlson, a two-time high diving silver medallist at the world championships, joined the Red Bull series in 2021 and quickly grew into one of the best cliff divers in the world.
She’s also become a social media star with 3.9 million followers on TikTok, giving viewers a window into her life on the series and being open about mental health and dietary issues.
The 25-year-old from Thunder Bay, Ont., heads into this weekend’s competition second in the women’s standings behind seven-time world champion Rhiannan Iffland of Australia. Carlson finished runner-up to Iffland in each of the last two seasons.
Fourth-ranked Simone Leathead of Montreal and wild card Aimee Harrison of Victoria, B.C., are the other Canadians on the women’s side, while wild card Charles-Antoine Labadie of Laval, Que., is set to compete in the men’s division.
The competition features 12 men and 12 women at each event. The men dive from 27 metres, the equivalent of nine stories, and the women jump from 21 metres, which is roughly seven.
Seeing the dives on video may be exciting but witnessing it in person is a whole other experience, said Diving Canada director of sport development Olivier Morneau-Ricard, who’s also a judge on the Red Bull series.
“When you watch it in person, it’s 100 times more impressive,” he said. “It’s someone going up nine floors at a hotel and looking down.
“They hit the water at approximately 90 kilometres per hour, so it’s something crazy to watch.”
The divers reach such high speeds that landing feet-first is necessary to avoid serious injuries.
But injuries remain part of the sport, Carlson warned. Red Bull even hires scuba divers who wait in the water to help rescue athletes who don’t rise on their own after an attempt — something Carlson said happened twice recently.
“If you’re two degrees off even, you’re getting uppercutted by the water,” she said. “This is extreme, 80-kilometres-an-hour impact on your body that you’re never going to go up if you don’t feel ready to go up.”
Because of the nature of the sport, Carlson said she received endless comments about her bravery when she first started building a following on TikTok in 2021.
She used that to start a #BraveGang trend on social media — which has since turned into a company — to highlight how jumping from extreme heights isn’t the only way to be courageous.
