It's a long climb to the top of the 10-metre platform at Iris Schmidbauer’s new local diving club, but the German cliff diver is used to jumping from twice that height.
Schmidbauer has hurled herself off high places all over the world while competing on the Red Bull Cliff Diving circuit — and is one of just three women who can do a back triple somersault with double twist from 20m.
“It's a challenge about overcoming your fear and just pushing on your limits knowing what you are capable of,” Schmidbauer said.
But it’s not just the height factor that Schmidbauer has to get over when she competes, with divers like herself also hitting the water at about 80km/h.
“It can feel like concrete. Once I did land flat on my back from 20 metres and my back was bleeding, I was coughing blood and it felt more like an electric shock going through my body.”
Schmidbauer came to New Zealand on a well-earned holiday at the end of last year's competition but thanks to Covid-19 has been training here ever since.
It’s not necessarily a bad thing, though, with the self-taught cliff diver using the chance to brush up on the basics, even if it is in two parts from the 10-metre platform.
“Only really when I go to a competition is when I really get the possibility to train and because it's limited time there, I usually only do one or two times that dive before actually competing with it.”
This season's events were cancelled, which means the 25-year-old has spent the whole year in New Zealand. But she’s hoping to stay longer after applying for a talent visa.
“It’s just a chilled vibe. I feel connected to nature, I can find some cliffs to dive off as well — it's just a great country.”
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