Photo: Jay Willett/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Anyone walking through Seaport on Friday or Saturday might hear a splash or two.
The Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series has come to Boston for its 2025 season finale. A group of 24 divers, 12 men and 12 women, will launch off the Institute of Contemporary Art and land in Boston Harbor.
The series has come to Boston plenty of times in the past, but never for its last stop.
“Their flips and twists are unbelievable,” said one spectator on Friday.
The finale of the global competition hasn’t been on U.S. soil since 2010, when the final stop of the series was in Hawaii. This season finale also marks the first time ever that a women’s champion will be crowned in the U.S.
The first two rounds are Friday, and champions will be crowned Saturday, with one man and one woman being awarded the King Kahekili Trophy.
Diver Jonathan Parades of Mexico, who’s currently ranked 3rd in the competition, said this stop of the series means a lot to him, since his last time competing in Boston was cut short.
Last year I left the competition right in the middle, I got a little bit of a panic attack during the event,” Parades said. “I want to forget about last year and just do my best.”
Photo: Jay Willett/WBZ NewsRadio
The men are diving from a height of over 88 feet, while the women are diving from a height of 69 feet, according to the organizers. Since the divers can hit the water at speeds over 50 mph, dive teams on the ground will splash the water with their hands to break up the surface tension.
One spectator, who has a background in diving herself, said she knows how important it is to focus your eyes on the horizon before you step off the platform.
“They’re gonna lose possibly their sense of orientation, so by focusing in on something … you don’t get dizzy,” she said.
Judges are scoring the divers from a dock to the side of the splash zone, considering the divers’ acrobatic skills and artistic expression.
The competition is free and open to the public, and runs until mid-day Saturday. The women’s final is at 11:35 a.m. and the men’s at 12:20 p.m. that day.
WBZ's Jay Willett (@JayWillettWBZ) reports.