Last year was a landmark moment for professional cliff diving as the first ever women’s World Series was added to Red Bull’s roster.

The series kicked off in Italy in 2013, with German diver Anna Bader walking away with the title and all eight women involved proving that they were not only as good as their male counterparts, but also that they were bringing a new styles, technique and a totally new approach to the sport.

The following June they dived alongside the men’s series in Mexico with Rachelle Simpson fighting her way to the first ever female World Series Series title.

Now with 2015’s series swiftly upon us, the women’s series has left its rookie year behind and is now looking to make some serious waves in the sport.

Early Days

Cliff diving itself is still a newbie in the world of action sports, with only seven years of competitions behind it. Started in 2008, the divers come from a mix of backgrounds, from gymnasts to Olympic divers.

Diving from a 90ft platform into the ocean, the dive is three times the height of the tallest Olympic diving platform.

Divers do three consecutive dives and are judged on take-off, number of somersaults and twists, positioning, and water entry.

The dives are crazy stunning to watch but are equally as crazy dangerous. The diver must lad feet first in order to protect their neck and spine, taking all the force of the 90ft drop on their legs.

The cliff divers have said that the fear of diving never goes away, even after competing for years. How’s that for an adrenaline rush!

The women’s series made serious leaps forward in 2014 but this year expects to be another level.

Word from longtime male divers is that the women’s rounds are adding new dives and new styles to the sport at a crazy rate.

bringing a whole new style, technique and a totally new approach to the sport.

We saw last year that the Ginger Huber, Anna Bader and Rachelle Simpson are the three big dogs to watch and their very different styles of diving hint at what we can expect from this year’s competition.

The women dive off a lower 65ft platform as the 90ft drop is thought to be too much for the female body, which gives less time and opportunity for moves. These top three are showing however that this disadvantage is proving to only make them more on point and fluid with their movements.

While Huber’s consistent form in last years comp bagged her a strong third place, she could not compete with the difficult and daring dives of Bader and Simpson, we think it’s these intricate styles that the women will come armed with in 2015.

All women competing have said that female interest cliff diving has had a massive boom in the last 12 months and many of the top contenders believe that there will be a full on women’s movement in the sport over the next couple of years.

We’ve got a feeling that this might be the start of something really exciting in women’s extreme sports.

Bring on this year’s competitions!