The 29-year-old American Steven LoBue presses his claim for this year’s World Series title with victory in the Azores. Colombian Orlando Duque and third-placed David Colturi, of the USA, also produced their best performances of the year this Saturday in front of 2,000 spectators on boats and ships. During four rounds of competition, the 14 cliff divers dove more than 27 metres from three different locations on the Islet of Vila Franca do Campo, which included two rounds directly off the cliff face.
Halfway between Europe and the American east coast, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, it was the Florida-based “turbo-spinner” Steven LoBue who scored highest, performing his quint-half for 8s and 8.5s in the rough waters of the Portuguese Azores islands. After a flying start to the competition, Steven LoBue (468.15pts) beat a reinvigorated Orlando Duque (458.00pts) to the top spot. 25-year-old David Colturi (436.40pts), never better than sixth in 2014, showed the newly-learned triple-quad with a Degree of Difficulty of 6.2 for the first time in competition, which earned him his first podium finish of the year.