Romina Amato/Red Bull Content Pool
When Rachelle Simpson entered the second event of the Red Bull Cliff Diving Women’s World Series in 2015, she wanted to prove that her 2014 undefeated streak wasn’t a fluke. But after a year of flawless hurtling, flipping, and twisting—from as high as 21 meters into open water in competitions around the globe—the 28-year-old from San Antonio had a rare bad day. Two imperfect dives off the rocks in the Portuguese Azores kept her from the podium. “It was the first time I lost,” she says, remembering the disappointment. “I was hard on myself.” But instead of dwelling on her letdown, Simpson channeled “a big desire to come back and prove myself.” She continued to practice the new dives she brought to the second season and focused on getting back to that number-one spot. “The rock is beautiful, the ocean is beautiful,” she says. “I get to go to surreal places and do what I love.” At her next competition, in Italy, she earned one of the highest scores of her career and took home the win. “As a kid, I always wanted to fly,” she says. “Cliff diving is the closest I can get. It’s an incredible rush.”
Rachelle Simpson’s Road To Success:
50: Speed in mph at which a 20-meter cliff diver enters the water
90 percent: “That’s how mental this sport is. I focus on doing my dives perfectly instead of being afraid of them.”
10 minutes: How long it can take Simpson to hike up challenging terrain—like volcanoes!—to her dive sites. She repeats the climb three times during competitions.
This article originally appeared in the September 2016 issue of SELF. For more from the September issue, subscribe to SELF and download the digital edition. This full issue is available August 9 on national newsstands.
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