About Me

Iris Schmidbauer

Athletic Successes

Education

How do you get crazy and start with such an extreme sport?

I started Diving in Utting at the lake Ammersee. There is a beautiful wooden 10m Plattform. I grow up close to the lake in Germany.
Since I can think, I always wanted to to gymnastics. But unfortunately that was not possible because someone would have had to bring and pick me up by car for every training session. With 13 I followed the Olympics 2008 in the TV and I discovered Diving. I was fascinated immediately.

After that I started trying some dives myself at the platforms at the lake. And I managed to convince my parents to let me go to Munich for a taster diving session. Thereupon I stared with trainings sessions once a month, later twice a month and finally once a week. With 16 I moved to my grandparents to Munich. And I was able to start diving training twice a week. To increase my training I also went to a pool by myself whenever it was possible.

Through the club I met some Cliff divers and I found out that it is actually possible to survive to dive of 20m or even 27m! And I was fascinated again! In Barcelona 2013 I saw High Diving for the very first time life. 2014 I was invited to take part in my first Cliff Diving Trainings Camp in Area47 in Austria. There I learned the first tools you need of Cliff Diving like a Flying Front and Barani. - My "Abitur", A-levels equivalent, I managed to pass successfully at the same time. - After the Trainingscamp I was invited to participate at the International Cliff Diving Championships (WHDF) in august 2014 in Switzerland. I competed with 3 dives of 15m. And directly following that I worked for the rest of the summer in SOKOL's High Diving Show in an Adventure Park in France, Agen. In the show I learned more exiting dives like the fire dive.

In November 2014 I visited a family in Plymouth, who I met at the Cliff Diving Completion in Switzerland in the Summer. During my stay I was invited to train with the Plymouth Diving Club  I enjoyed the training so much that I decided to move in order to be able to train 10h a week, having professional training for the very first time. In September 2015 I moved to Plymouth and started to study Sports Therapy at Plymouth University.

My first very big competition was already in February 2016,  the Fina High Diving World Cup in Abu Dhabi. I successfully competed with three dives of 20m, beeng the only German and jungest competitor. I finished 9th. Since than I have competed in all Fina High Diving World Cups and Fina World Championships that followed as well as in some stops of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series.