St. Petersburg, Fla. (WWSB) – It was high drama on Saturday in St. Petersburg, with two American high divers looking to make history on home soil in the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series final round.<\/p>\n
After the third round of competition was completed on Friday, Americans Kaylea Arnett and James Lichtenstein stood atop the diving and leader boards heading into the final round of competition on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Tens of thousands of fans were on hand by land and sea to take in the exciting action.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s incredible,\u201d St. Petersburg resident and longtime Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series fan Sheena Fox said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a once in a lifetime opportunity. We\u2019ve been watching the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series since she was about two,\u201d she added, pointing to her daughter by her side.<\/p>\n
Breanna Graney and Leonard Ware moved to Myaaka City this past year, and were pleasantly surprised and knew they\u2019d be making the trip to St. Pete when they heard the event would be in town.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re committing to it right now,\u201d Ware laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, committing to it, a little shocked, but very excited,\u201d Graney added.<\/p>\n
It was the second stop of the World Series tour, coming off of a first leg in Indonesia where competitors jumped off of actual cliffs.<\/p>\n
Though this time the divers jumped off a more official apparatus at the pier, towering 90 feet high for the men and 70 feet high for the women, they did leave us with a bit of a cliff hanger on Friday on whether or not history would be made.<\/p>\n
For Kaylea Arnett, standing in her way of a first victory was the woman widely considered the \u201cGOAT\u201d of women\u2019s high diving, nine-time defending Red Bull Cliff Diving champion Rhiannan Iffland from Australia.<\/p>\n
On the men\u2019s side, for Friday\u2019s leader James Lichtenstein to get a victory on American soil, he\u2019d need to fend off a returning Aidan Heslop out of England, who entered the day in second place. Also in competition was one of the greatest men\u2019s high divers of all time in 11-time former champion Gary Hunt out of France.<\/p>\n
Divers saved their best performances for the final round, with high degrees of difficulty on some spectacular dives.<\/p>\n
In the end, both Arnett and Lichtenstein prevailed, capping off their weekend with stellar final dives of their own.<\/p>\n
This was the first time this competition was held in the Sunshine State, and it marked the first time an American man and woman each won their respective competitions at the same event on American soil.<\/p>\n
\u201cIncredible, doing it on home soil,\u201d Lichtenstein said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPretty proud of this girl for her first win, and I\u2019m proud of myself for diving well,\u201d he added, referring to Arnett.<\/p>\n
Both competitors remarked on the large crowds and thanked St. Petersburg for showing up and offering their vocal support as well.<\/p>\n
The Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series will now continue in Copenhagen, Denmark on June 27th, and continue to a variety of global destinations, including Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, and Oman.<\/p>\n
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