History of cliffdiving in the world and in the Czech Republic
History of cliffdiving is mapped from year 1770. In Hawaii, exactly on Lanai, which lies between the islands Molokai and Maui, the local warriors threw themselves from cliffs into the heavy sea; they wanted to show their courage and to get admiration of local women. A generation later, even the king Kamehameha I. (who was also a warrior and jumped from rocks into the heavy sea) from dynasty Kamehameha assessed the style and fall of each man (warrior). . In Hawaii even in today´s times, organized races under the name of cliffdiving. Should be noted that in Hawaii had been and still is jumped from a height of about 25 meters and this only to the water about 3,5 m deep! In the Czech Republic was established HIGHJUMP Civic Association in 1999 (which seeks to promote and develop adrenaline sport cliffdiving in the country), which organized the first ever Championship of the Czech Republic in Cliffdiving in 2000.
Highjump 2000
Only thanks to the enthusiasm of few people for this unique sport, was the Association of HighJump established in 1999. In 2000 the Association Highjump held the first ever clifffdiving competition in the Czech Republic. This competition finally gave the opportunity to compare jumping skills of competitors. The whole sport event took place in open countryside of flooded granite quarry in the village Hrimezdice. This competition had been viewed by more than 400 people.
Highjump 2001
Persistency and effort to cross not only sports boundaries brings through the second competition Highjump. We have added a new attractive discipline: swing into the water from 5 meters, which immediately become very popular between jumpers. The accompanying program was greatly expended. Throughout the whole time the sport and friendly atmosphere dominated. The year 2001 has made fans from the visitors.
Highjump 2002
Year 2002 has delivered 3rd year of Highjump competition. This time everything was in great style. For the first time in the Czech Republic we have prepared for the competitors the opportunity to jump from the highest diving board and it was from the unique 15 meter tower. The Hrimezdice quarry is slowly becoming a cult meeting place of fans and competitors from the whole the Czech Republic and this is the goal of the HIGHJUMP Association.
Highjump 2003
After years of experiences and creation of quality background for divers as well as for the production, for higher attractiveness of competition the tower has increased to the boundary of 16 meters. Thanks to the good reputation of the whole championship has managed to develop really high quality and valuable support of interesting media, both print and broadcasting sector. TV Nova broadcasted live entry to the Snídaně s Novou. Thanks to this, the number of people interested in this sport increased. The record number of competitors signed this year for the competition.
Highjump 2004
Not only with the help of our members, sponsors and friends, but also because of the good weather, we managed to organize an interesting sport event. Highjump competition was firstly held with the participation of foreign divers and has added a new radius for jump on sk8, bikes, in-lines and even on bobsleigh, just funny diversification for all of us. Year 2004 has been, for now, the best year and enjoyed the huge interest of viewers.
Highjump 2005
Sport cliffdiving, thanks to HIGHJUMP competition, found its fans in the Czech Republic. Our diver Michal Navrátil defended his title in breath taking final from 16 meters due to the foreign competition and Lucie Absolonová reigned over all women again, congratulation. This year was for the first time the tower made from scaffold and newly all greatly entertained Krasoplavci. The attendance of the competition exceeded 2300 people. The main partner was the firm Timeout, which firstly prepared a wonderful collection of clothing.
Highjump 2006
I am very glad that I can state: “year after year we are still improving”. Already 7th year of competition visited more than 3500 viwers, more divers came as well. The web pages saw in July: 18 501 people. There were plenty of accompanying events during the competition and 3 music stages. These figures speak for themselves. Thanks to the sponsors and to all people who participated in the preparation of this event!
Highjump 2007
Already the 8th year can trot out by courageous seven years old Honzik Slansky, who dared to jump from 16 meters, gaining all wide audience. Such applause will be very difficult to overcome. For the first time in the history the weather was little worst, so the final had to be postponed. But everything went well despite the bad weather, even the attendance was excellent.
Highjump 2008
9th year we have putted the lath pretty high! Record attendance nearly 4000 people.
A record number of divers: 43. There were participation of 7 TV crews and main media partner radio Evropa 2. Mini freestyle motocross, Xbox360 game tent, news for entertainment such as: diving board was there as well as the European competition in splashdiving – unbelievable crashes. These few points I think speaks for everything.
Highjump 2009
On the 10th anniversary year of the competition Highjump the best diver of nowadays, the world´s legend of cliffdiving, Colombian Orlando Duque, came. We tried for three years to lure on this diver to come to our competition. This year, we finally succeeded with the assistance of Red Bull and our best diver Michal Navratil, who finished this year at the 7th place in the prestigious cliffdivers competition RED BULL Cliffdiving Series 2009. Participation of these two divers from world´s top guaranteed the largest attendance in history and huge media attention.
Highjump 2010
11th annual of events were enriched by latest technological achievements of general partner the QUIX Company, which arranged that the events were publicized through multimedia reality. A record number of competitors from all over Europe, extending of musical stages and rich accompanying program attracted crowds again. Highjump family has grown vastly. Highjump is simply a classic of the summer and it cannot be missed.
Highjump 2011
A long series of sun-drenched Highjump was discontinued this year, but on the other hand… who endured the brutally persistent rain and convicted himself or herself that he or she is not made of sugar, enjoyed finally this year’s adrenaline weekend all the more playful. And it must be said that the abundant participation of spectators in this slush was a very pleasant surprise for us and charged us with a new energy which will be really helpful for preparation of the next year. Highjump is simply classics of the summer, which should not be missed despite of bad weather.
Highjump 2012
Several exhibition dives from 20 meter ramp and splashdivers favoured by the audience were performed for the first time in history of Highjump and the Czech Republic. HighJump is not just an adrenaline sport experience. During those two hot days of holiday you experience a little more excitement in conjunction with music and gadgets than at some ordinary music festival.
Highjump 2013
Orlando Duque and Michal Navratil, two stars which light up the 14th year of Highjump, which beat the record of attendance. Nice weather, impressive accompanying program, personal record of Czech professional diver Michal Navratil and his first dive from the height of 30 meters are unforgettable experiences from this year of Highjump.
Highjump 2014
Jubilee 15th year brought 32-metre free fall jump performed by Michal Navrátil – the highest jump in the whole High Jump history. It was the absolute highlight of this year´s High Jmp event. It was also Michal´s personal record. A great show for all visitors was also an acrobatic performance which was in the hands of Martin Šonka.
Highjump 2015
16th year of High Jump attracted again a lot of fans of extremes sports, relaxed summer atmosphere and entertainment of all kinds to the quarry in Hrimezdice. There were many top world cliffdivers, too. Swiss master Andy Hulliger became an absolute winner and prolonged his invictibility from the previous year. Whole weekend was full of adrenalin sports one of which was Rock`n`Ride freestyle exhibition of motocross riders Martin Koreň and Libor Podmol.
Highjump 2016
Thousands of visitors came to quarry to see the 17th year of cliffdiving competition with worldwide elite cliffdivers who jump off extreme heights. When the competition finished, accompanying programme together with concerts of famous music bands wasnt missing. The biggest highlight of the event was the air show by Martin Šonka. American cliffdiver Kyle Mitrione won the king´s discipline – 16 metres. A Swiss man Andreas Hulliger, who is the winner of two last years of Highjump, dominated at 12-metre jumps.Young junior Denis Vantuch became the best Czech competitor and a winner of the Czech championship and it´s worth checking this guy´s steps in the future, too. Aidan Heslop (14) from the UK won the junior´s category. According to experts Aidan is one of the biggest talents at world´s cliffdiving scene. Aidan together with his colleague and a junior, too, Owen Weymouth (17) showed their exhibition jump off 27 metres at Highjump, which is their maximum. American cliffdiver Genevieve Bradley dominated in women´s category at Highjump. Evening and night belonged traditionally to music concerts and party. At several stages performed bands like Skyline, Prague Conspiracy, Ukradený ovoce, James Cole, Vladimir 518, Ting, Atavists, Loo&Placido and others.
Highjump 2017
During the eighteenth year of Highjump we have had the chance to see a competition from 20 meters for the first time ever in the Czech Republic – 88 competitors / 12 nationalities. English Aidan Heslop (15 years old) totally owned the competition.
The competitior´s list for Desperados Highjump 2017 was promising the best performances during the last couple of years. As expected Michal Navrátil won the Czech championship. The current world champion in highdiving from FINA Swimming Federation races in Budapest won against young and hopeful Czech jumper Denis Vantuch and third Jan Bílý.
Accompanying program: Highdiving, Plaques X-Diving, Flyboard, BMX+SK8 exhibition, Parkour, Street workout, Pole Dancing, YOYO show, Stop zewling area – games, Slide, Swing, helicopter flihgts and performances of international stars.
Highjump 2018
The best performance was given by just 17 year old Aidan Heslop from the Great Britian who repeated his triumph from the previous year and convinced everybody that his career is going straight up.
Among women excelled the American cliffdiver Ellie Smart who performed several difficult jumps from the 20m diving platform. The Czech Cliffdiving Cup has been taken by Jan Bily from Ceske Budejovice who managed to return to the top of the czech cliffdiving scene after a two year long break.
Apart from the official jumps from a solid platform, the divers also performed some unforgettable exhibition jumps from a 30m high highlift platform. The official show was also accompanied by an ehxibition of one of the best flyboarders in the world Petr Civin who presented us with an unbelievable show meters above the water level. The visitors had the opportunity to try highjumping themselves – jumping from several levels to a huge inflatable pillow Air bag or enjoy themselves on many other attractions such as Kinedril swing and watch and admire performances of many more cool sportsmen like BMX riders or the best Czech traceurs.
Highjump 2019
The main contest, in which divers were jumping into a former quarry from a 25m platform, was ruled by only 17 years old Briton Aidan Heslop. Aidan managed to defeat the Czech cliff diving star Michal Navrátil by only a few points. The Czech cup has been won by Denis Vantuch from Brno and the women’s category was dominated by Genvieve Bradley (USA).
Highjump 2020
So you thought you would miss the famous HIGHJUMP vibe in 2020 because of COVID? You were wrong! We had partnered with Prima COOL to create a series of highdiving events all across the Czech Republic! You could have met the HIGHJUMP family in Havirov, Usti nad Labem, Ceske Budejovice and in Prague for the grand finals!
Highjump 2021
Highjump 2021 in Hřiměždice was a bit different than previous years because of the COVID regulations. There could be a maximum of 2000 people at the event and it was under a thorough control of the Ministry of Health. Nonetheless everything worked out great even though the divers could compete „only“ from a 16m platform. A plenty of entertainment, music and accompanying programs was prepared and visitors appreciated a relaxed atmosphere reminiscent of the beginnings of HIGHJUMP. Highjump is one of the few events in the Czech Republic that has been operating without interruption since 2000!
Highjump 2022
After two years of Covid, the classic Highjump as we all know it could finally take place. The twenty-third year had a hawaiian spirit. The exhibition of jumps from a height of 30 meters returned and the night party was running by three stages. The main accompanying program was Flyboard and U-ramp. One of the oldest competitions in extreme water jumping in Europe has become legendary for many.
Highjump 2023
One of the most demanding Highjumps from the point of view of the organizers. The last time it rained like this was in 2011. We want to thank you all for the fact that many of you stayed even though the weather on Saturday was not favorable. Thanks to all the jumpers for not packing it in and jumping even in the rain and showing that they’re not made of sugar. Much respect. Thanks to all the bands and DJs for their shows and positive attitude. Thank you to all the people who helped us dig out of the mud and water that was falling on us from the sky. We hope you enjoyed the Sunday tractor ride. 😄
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