This weekend brought one of the wildest sporting spectacles St. Pete has ever seen, and it’s one we won’t soon forget. The Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series St. Petersburg took over the downtown waterfront for three days of adrenaline-fueled action, and we were on hand to see it all.
Upwards of 50,000 people filled the streets, parks and waters surrounding the north yacht basin where the diving took place. The iconic diving tower, designed in honor of the Welcome to St. Pete markers, soared nearly 100 feet into the air as divers stepped onto its edge and onlookers watched from around nine stories below on the ground and sea level.
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Practice, demonstrations and qualifying rounds took place Thursday and Friday, with Saturday’s finals serving as the highlight of the weekend, with Americans taking home the title in the only World Series stop on their home soil. In a thrilling competition among 24 divers, James Lichtenstein won the men’s competition with a score of 429.6, while Kaylea Arnett won the women’s competition with a score of 361.45.
Lichtenstein wowed audiences with his mid-air maneuvers, while Arnett racked up round-after-round of high scores to emerge with the title in her hands. Fellow American Lisa Faulkner secured a podium finish in third place.
St. Pete, Pinellas County and Tampa Bay as a region are no strangers to elite athletic competitions, but this was a first for the area. It was the only American stop on the six-location tour for the World Series, and it was the first-ever in Florida. Downtown St. Pete has seen everything from Babe Ruth to the Grand Prix, but nothing quite like the sight of professional divers speeding 65 miles per hour into the waters of Tampa Bay from 90 feet above.
While it was a first for Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, it certainly wasn’t the first for Red Bull in the region. The City of Tampa has twice hosted Red Bull Flugtag. In fact, the Red Bull Dance Your Style competition is coming to the region soon.
With St. Pete as the second competition in the six-site World Series tour, you can follow the rest of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series action here. Next up: Copenhagen.
