In almost every sport or walk of life, making a big splash is a big deal.
Diving would be the exception where the smaller the ripple, the better.
And this past weekend, Winnipegger Alex Tiaglei and his Dive Manitoba Coach Dallas Ludwick “pooled” their efforts to make more “quiet” entries into the water than the rest of the field at the 2023 Pan Am Junior High Diving Championships in Lima, Peru.
The end result was a total score of 294.93 points to capture the gold medal in the Young Men’s A Category.
“Usually I try not to look at the scoreboard but in High Diving after the first three dives you’re re-arranged so I knew I was at the top because they made me go last,” explained Tiaglei on how he handled the mounting pressure of the competition. “I didn’t know by how much I was ahead, but I knew I was definitely up there and in first. The pressure was on and I was nervous but I managed to pull through with it.”
Fresh off Saturday’s impressive performance, Alex was already back in the water for a follow-up training session on Wednesday at Pan Am Pool in Winnipeg. It’s because of that dedication, work ethic, and attitude that his coach was not surprised by Tiaglei’s accomplishment.
“He’s been working really hard for this and had his sights set on it — too humble to say it out loud to most people,” said a proud Ludwick, who shared that Tiaglei was unaware of the sizeable lead he had compiled going into the final series of dives. “I knew he could do it a hundred percent. I think pressure is a privilege and sometimes you need to see what you’re able to do with that situation,”
High diving is a fairly new event on the international stage, and Ludwick says there were just four countries represented in Lima last weekend. “The top divers from the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Brazil. It is a newer discipline so some of the other Pan Am countries aren’t quite there yet,” said the Manitoba Regional Diving Centre Head Coach.
“We still had a good range of athletes at different levels throughout all of the countries that are on board so far.”
One of the keys to Tiaglei’s success was the recent addition of a reverse jump with three somersaults. And by recent, we’re talking about a dive the 17 year old Winnipegger had just learned in Peru a few days ahead of the competition.
“It’s a little more common in high diving because here in Winnipeg we don’t actually have access to anything higher than 10 Meter,” said Tiaglei whose main sport was gymnastics until he transitioned to diving at the age of 11.
“So I do all my lead-ups and preparation here — dives that will get me ready for the dive I’m going to be trying there. I’ve done this before, where I’ve had to learn new dives at a venue and just trust the training and that I was prepared enough.”
Winnipeg Diver Alex Tiaglei in training on the 10M Platform at Pan Am Pool.
And as Ludwick explained, this particular dive had been talked about and planned for ahead of the Pan Am Junior event.
“It was a deliberate strategy. Historically, around the world, there are only so many 15, 20, 27 metres that exist,” said the veteran coach. “Most divers have to do this training. It has a totally different skillset, you have to be adaptable — really brave! Also you have to know when to draw the line, so if it hadn’t gone well — we did have a backup dive.”
That type of strategy will certainly come into play in the very immediate future, because on Saturday Tiaglei and Ludwick will be boarding a plane bound for Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina to be part of training for the famed Redbull Cliff World Diving Series.
“Alex has been selected to train with the Redbull athletes, on the Redbull platform — off the bridge,” said Ludwick. “The Redbull series is pretty much the pinnacle in the sport right now so this is a really big honour.”
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