THE 2015 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series kicks off today in Cartagena, Colombia.

The ‘undisputed queen of the Caribbean coast’ serves as the starting point for the cliff diving elite and salutes a season that which will be topped off with the 50th World Series competition at the grand finale in Bilbao, Spain. The season will include eight stops across three continents and will end with only one champion.

It will be an occasion to savour for cliff diving legend Orlando Duque when the World Series touches Colombian soil for the very first time and huge crowds of his devotees are guaranteed. The location at Cartagena’s Convention Center with its splendid view over the bay of Las Ánimas provides for a proper location to launch into the seventh season. Six months after the coronation of four-time World Series champion Gary Hunt at the grand finale in Mexico, 10 of the world’s best cliff divers and four wildcards will be diving from 27 metres-high in their bid for glory during eight competitions between now and September.

The athletes from seven nations have spent their off-season perfecting their technique and learning new tricks. More difficulty, new performances and an increased quality can be expected from the likes of ‘brilliant Brit’ Gary Hunt, Russia’s graceful Artem Silchenko and the sport’s figurehead Orlando Duque.