Imagine jumping off a 10-metre platform and plunging into water faster than a car can go in a school zone.

Now double it. This is what eight-time cliff diving world champion Rhiannan Iffland has done hundreds of times.

The Australian made her debut in the cliff diving series in 2016 and has dominated the extreme sport, where she leaps from 21 metres above the water before hitting it at speeds of 85 kilometres an hour.

“It’s a natural reaction, you’re standing there about to do something that you’re not comfortable with, so that fear is there but there is a process that I go through to kind of deal with it.”

“To make that countdown, that ‘3 … 2 … 1 … jump’, it takes a lot of work.”

The 33-year-old is the most decorated female athlete to ever compete in the sport and clinched her eighth consecutive Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series title this year.

That title was already won before she hit the water in Sydney, when along with 22 other divers she performed in front of her adoring home crowd.

She needed a big dive to claim the event and like the very best athletes when it mattered most she delivered.

Her back three somersaults with two twists with a 4.4 degree of difficulty saw Iffland throw herself outwards and over. And when she sliced through the water, there was barely a ripple and 9s across the board from the judges.

The dive gave her the only score over 100 for the entire women’s event. Only five men’s dives scored higher.

‘You need to be a daredevil’

Iffland is not content with simply breaking the mould on platforms.

The Lake Macquarie local has dived from gorges, windows, a helicopter and even a moving hot air balloon. To do so takes a certain mindset.

That strong will is built from a desire to succeed that goes back to a childhood Olympic dream that never quite turned into reality.

As a teenager, Iffland trained in trampolining and diving at Sydney Olympic Park.

“I always seemed to be the bridesmaid and never the bride and I kind of just got a little bit burnt out of that,” she told 7.30.

“I was looking for a new avenue to take in my sports.”

By 19 she had retired and began working on cruise ships as a diving performer. Soon after she was introduced to cliff diving.

“As soon as I stood on that platform and did the first dive I was hooked, and I was determined to get into it and then to make a career out of it,” she said.

From there it took approximately two years for Iffland to adapt her skills to move into high diving at a competitive level — but determined as ever she ascended to uncomfortable heights.

“It’s more difficult mentally than it is physically,” Iffland said.

“It’s way more confronting but at the same time it’s way more exciting.”

Finding her ‘happy place’

When they’re standing atop the diving platform athletes are not only dealing with the mental angst of such an enormous leap but are often battling the elements too.

On Sunday in Sydney all divers were given a safety briefing as 45 km/h gusts rocked the platform and the wind sock blew at right angles.

For Iffland though experience and a proven mental process brings her calm in those moments.

“Very little is going through my mind in that very last second, it’s just focusing on the technique, focusing on the dive and thinking of a couple of cues in my head depending on what dive I’m doing.

“It might be something as simple as ‘swing your arms fast’ or ‘don’t move your head’.

“All of the thinking that you would think goes in my head, it all happens before — so I’m well and truly prepared and I’ve gone through that whole process before I step up there — so I can have a clear mind and perform the dive.”

An Olympic sport?

In Sydney on Sunday Iffland’s dive was made in front of 52,000 people who lined Sydney Harbour’s iconic foreshore across the weekend.

She is hopeful that the sport’s popularity can see it become an Olympic event.

It is already an event in the World Aquatics Championships, where Iffland has claimed high diving gold four times.

“The world of high diving I think would be a great addition, it’s kind of an extension of diving.

“It would fill a stadium, that’s for sure.”

The sport is not slated for Los Angeles in 2028 but Brisbane in 2032 could be an option, especially with young Australian divers Xantheia Pennisi and teenager Stella Forsyth considered to be emerging talents.

At 33 years old Iffland says recovering from dives takes longer and while high diving as an Olympic sport may be too far away for her she has no plans of retiring anytime soon.

“I’m still driven, I’m going to aim for another five years,” she said.

For now Iffland has her sights set on reaching 10 world titles as her immediate goal.

“I don’t think I’ve really admitted that to anyone yet, but I mean in the back of my mind it’s there,” she said.

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