The sport and overoming fear

Iris Schmidbauer has hurled herself off high places all over the world while competing on the Red Bull Cliff Diving circuit — and is one of just three women who can do a back triple somersault with double twist from 20m.

But it’s not just the height factor that Iris has to get over when she competes, with divers like herself also hitting the water at about 80km/h.

Iris came to New Zealand on a well-earned holiday at the end of last year's competition but thanks to Covid-19 has been training here ever since.

It’s not necessarily a bad thing, though, with the self-taught cliff diver using the chance to brush up on the basics, even if it is in two parts from the 10-metre platform.

The 2020 season's events were cancelled, which means the 25-year-old spent the whole year in New Zealand. But she’s hoping to stay longer after applying for a talent visa.