Kaylea Arnett is making a splash across the globe as a part of an elite world series tour in cliff diving.
Arnett, Las Vegas, is competing in the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, an annual international multi-city tour competition. Arnett has the distinction of being the only woman in the world to perform the reverse triple pike dive, a skill that earned her a place on the world diving platform.
“I'm very excited to endeavor,” Arnett recently told CNTV.
Arnett, a Chickasaw citizen, who has been diving since she was 8 years old, was invited to compete as a wild card diver at the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series stop in Boston.
“You have to be invited as a wild card diver. You show up for the very first time, and if you're able to do really well or wow the people, then they invite you to do more stops.”
Arnett did indeed wow the crowd and earned a silver medal in her first competition.
“They invited me to do the whole rest of the season for the year, which is great news,” she said.
Cliff diving is an elite extreme sport and the ultimate display of focus and skill, according to RedBullCliffDiving.com. As a sport, cliff diving originated in the 1700s in Hawaii. The Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series was launched in 2009.
During the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, 12 men and 12 women, eight permanent divers, and up to four wild cards in each category, compete at every event to earn maximum championship points. Divers are from across the globe, including Canada, Australia, Germany, Italy and the United States.
Tour stops include some of the most picturesque locations in the world.
“Sometimes we have platforms that they build for us and sometimes we dive directly off the cliff face,” Arnett explained. “Sometimes we jump out of balconies, depending on what stop we’re at. The women jump from 21 meters (about 70 feet), and the men jumped from 27 meters, which is very, very high, but I don't look down so it's OK,” Arnett chuckled.
Divers are judged by a panel on their technique, acrobatics and artistic moves during the dive. At the end of the season a champion is crowned in the women's and men's categories and awarded the King Kahekili trophy, as well as a winner's prize fund.
During her diving career, Arnett has competed at every level and was recently a performer in the acclaimed Cirque du Soleil “O” production at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
She said transitioning to cliff diving was not too difficult.
“Once you get over the fear of how high it is, it's just like traditional diving. That's the foundation. All you have to do is land on your feet instead of your head,” she said.
The event consists of four rounds of diving, and final scores are based on an overall total.
“I usually pick my four best dives, of course, the one that I'm most comfortable doing, and all I have to do is add half an extra flip.”
Arnett is a crowd favorite at the competition, dancing on the platform before she flings herself off of it, executing twists, somersaults and flips before landing feet first in the water traveling at speeds close to 50 mph.
“It's better to not overthink with things like this,” she said. “I find that I used to overthink in college when I did 10-meter diving. I would really get in my head, and I found a way to get through that. Now I'm able to do 21 meters with no issue whatsoever. I just count 1-2-3 go.”
Arnett’s first Red Bull competition in Boston, June 8 was thrilling, she said.
“There were 30,000 people that showed up to watch the competition, and it was just electric. I definitely take that energy from the audience, but I try not to let any of that affect me.”
Her bubbly personality shines through during competitions, making it clear she is having a great time, doing what she loves.
“It's good to keep things loose and keep things fun. It reminds me not to take it too seriously, because there was a time back in the day that competing took the fun out of diving for me. It was too much pressure. I wasn't getting the results that I wanted, and it just became not fun anymore,” Arnett said.
Nevertheless, she persisted, taking a break from competing to become a performer.
“So, I found a way. Doing shows made diving really fun for me again because there was no pressure, and I learned all these new skills. I've learned how to take that with me into this new competition world.”
Arnett took her fun-first perspective to the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar, last February and led the U.S. women with a fourth-place finish in 20-meter-high diving. It was her international high diving competition debut.
The Qatar performance prompted the wild card invitation from Red Bull.
“They were very impressed with what I did at World Championships. Something special that I do is a dive that no other person in the world does. I’m the only woman in the world to do this dive, and I debuted it at the World Championships.”
Preparing for the competition, she spent countless hours practicing the reverse triple pike dive.
“Really, it wasn't great, but I decided to throw it in the meet anyway. My competitive spirit just took over, and I nailed the dive, and this just wowed everybody.”
Arnett maintains a competitive spirit, but it has morphed. She focuses on the task at hand and keeps it simple and fun.
“I don't want to lose that fun again, so I've learned how to make competing fun again.”
Arnett, 31, is having fun and making waves on the international diving scene.
“My first stop was in Boston, that's where I got my first trophy. They've now invited me to Polignano a Mare, Italy, it's just above the heel of Italy,” she told CNTV before the June 30 competition.
“I've never actually been to Italy or many of the places that are on the world series, so I'm very excited to do some traveling and of course diving.”
Arnett earned a second-place finish in Italy, where the divers dove into the Adriatic Sea. The event announcer described her as a “fantastic competitor.”
“She is the only woman in the world to perform a reverse triple pike, a very difficult dive to get the rotation going and maintain it in the air. It is not easy,” said Red Bull diving commentator Joey Zuber.
The tour also has stops in Causeway Coast, Northern Ireland; Oslo, Norway; Montreal, Canada; and Antalya, Turkey. The final stop is Sydney, Australia Nov. 10.
Arnett said she was very excited to travel and see new places.
“I'm so happy that diving has brought me around the world to these amazing places. I finally get to see Europe.”
She said she is eagerly anticipating the cliff diving at the varied locations.
“I'm excited, because all of these different venues are insane. I'm going to have to be diving into waves and oceans. I'll be going to Northern Ireland. I'm sure that's going to be freezing but amazing. I'm just excited to have these experiences all with diving.”
Arnett is just the second wild card diver in the 15-year Red Bull competition history to place, or podium, in the first two competitions.
She said along with the cliff diving competition, additional World Aquatics Championships will keep her busy the rest of the year.
“I definitely need to focus on staying healthy, not getting injured and staying strong to make it through this long season of the World Aquatics Championships and the Red Bull Cliff Diving Championships.”
Through the years, Arnett has garnered multiple awards, including a diving scholarship to Virginia Tech. She earned gold medals at the USA Diving National Championships as well as numerous other events. She qualified for the 2012 Olympic diving trials. At 10 years old, she was the youngest diver to qualify for the U.S. team and competed at the Junior Pan American Games in Brazil, earning a bronze medal. She was twice named Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Women’s Diver of the Year and earned ACC Most Valuable Diver Award three times while at Virginia Tech.
Visit RedBullCliffDiving.com for updates on the competition.