Brave divers jump to it in Bosnia’s traditional Old Bridge competition
SARAJEVO, BosniaHerzegovina — It’s an annual event that’s not for the fainthearted or those with a fear of heights.
But on Sunday, 41 brave souls and about a thousand tourists and residents showed up for the 451st edition of the traditional high-diving in Mostar, about 120 kilometers south of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s capital Sarajevo.
Local divers and competitors from all over Europe made the leap from a height of 25 meters off Mostar’s Old Bridge, a UNESCO monument, in two categories: headfirst and legs-first.
Home favorites Lorens Listo, who was born in Mostar, and Igor Kazic won the contest, with Listo claiming the headfirst event for the 11th time in a row.
In his first jump, Listo got 48 points and a maximum 50 for his second, while Kazic got maximums for each jump.
Listo said the competition was difficult this year as his rivals had years of experience.
“The feeling is as phenomenal as it is every time, but today it was the hardest jump for me. After the first series I was the second one, which gave me extra pressure, but the luck follows the brave ones,” Listo said after the victory.
During the competition, Mostar measured 36 C and was the warmest city in the country, the Federal Hydrometeorological Institute of Bosnia said.
The annual event is said to have started in 1664 as a challenge to young men of the city to leap into the cold water of the Neretva River, but in 1968 a formal diving competition was inaugurated and held every summer, attracting a large crowd of tourists and residents.