Romanian diver Constantin Popovici claimed victory in Mostar at the fourth stop of the 2026 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, keeping his hopes alive of winning the King Kahekili Trophy ahead of the final event of the season, according to a press release sent to AGERPRES.
After the round in Oman, originally scheduled for October, was officially cancelled due to the situation in the region, the event in Bosnia and Herzegovina became even more significant for the Romanian divers in the battle for this season's title.
The Mostar event holds special significance for Constantin Popovici. Not only has he won there three times previously, in 2019, 2022 and 2025, but his gold medal in 2019 came after a dive that received five perfect 10s, making him only the second diver in the competition's history to achieve this.
Following his victory at the previous event in Denmark, Popovici once again needed maximum points to remain in contention for this season's King Kahekili Trophy. After his opening dive, the Romanian was fifth in the overall standings. Following his next two dives, he climbed to fourth place, trailing the leader by fewer than 10 points going into the final round.
For the final dive, Popovici performed a handstand dive with a degree of difficulty of 5.8, earning 139.20 points. The score secured his second victory of the season with a total of 414.90 points, just 0.10 points ahead of Aidan Heslop (414.80). James Lichtenstein completed the podium with 411.10 points, with the three now the only divers still mathematically capable of winning the World Series title.
Unfortunately, Catalin Preda, who made his Mostar debut with a podium finish in the 2018 season, had already been ruled out of the title race before the opening dive after missing the event through injury.
Competitors dived from the Stari Most bridge into the waters of the Neretva River, the only stop on the calendar where the dives take place into flowing water.
With a total of 55 points after four events, Popovici is third in the overall standings ahead of the final round, two points behind James Lichtenstein and 13 points adrift of leader Aidan Heslop. Catalin Preda is fourth with 32 points.
'I think there should be more events here in Mostar each season because I always perform well here and I feel at home. I'm delighted to have claimed my fourth victory in Mostar, but most importantly I'm injury-free and can continue fighting for the title. There's only one event left and the gap is a little too big. However, you never know what can happen, and the title will only be decided after the final dive in Italy. I'm a bit more relaxed because there's greater pressure on Aidan, and perhaps on James as well, so I'm optimistic, especially as I expect a lot of Romanians to be in Polignano a Mare to support me,' said Constantin Popovici.
The final event of the 2026 season will take place over the weekend of September 25-27 in Polignano a Mare, Italy, where Popovici stood on the top step of the podium last year. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Mihai Tenea; EN - writing by: Cristina Zaharia)
- Category: English
- Date: 2026-08-03 10:40:41
