High diving will undoubtedly be the most spectacular discipline of the FINA World Championships 2017 this summer, on the superb banks of the Danube river, right in front of the Hungarian Parliament Building.

It is not easy to say who will be the top favourite in the High Diving women’s event, but 2013 World champion and 2015 World silver medallist Cesilie Carlton (USA) will definitely be one of the medal contenders.

The 17th FINA World Championships this summer will be the third one featuring high diving on the competition programme.


Carlton (USA) with historical gold in Barcelona 2013

The venue will be at the heart of Budapest in Batthyány Square, where the best athletes of this beautiful discipline will jump off a 20m platform (27m for the men).

Cesilie Carlton is recognised for having achived the best results ever at the FINA World Championships so far. The San Antonio-born athlete competed in swimming and then gymnastics until she realised that she could combine the two, so she took up diving and later high diving.

She became a high diver in 2009 at age 28, allowing herself some time to learn the highly technical skills of this discipline and to gain experience.

A man, Jason Carlton who later married her, inspired and supported her during this process.

“Really I started high diving because of my husband – Jason. He's been high diving for around 20 years. When I first met him, I thought he was insane. I'd never even heard of high diving until I started dating him. He told me he dived off a 90-foot high (27m). I thought it was to impress me - and it worked. It really did.’ (source: scmp.com, 1 September, 2013)

Cesilie Carlton ended up falling in love with high diving and became one of the most successful advocates of this sport.

She won the historical gold medal at the 2013 FINA World Championships in Barcelona, where the sport was first introduced to the programme, and then took silver in Kazan in 2015. Despite beijing very successful, Carlton admits she has fear of heights.

“Look, I know this is going to sound crazy, but I have a pretty good fear of heights going on when I am up there. A lot of people have been saying it's vertigo but it's not - it's a fear of heights. A pretty significant fear of heights.” (source: scmp.com, 1 September, 2013)

The women’s high diving competition with Cesilie Carlton at the 2017 FINA World Championships will be held on July 28-29 at the Batthyány Square.