INNIS MOR, June 25 — There were victories in the opening round of the 2017 Cliff Diving World Series for Britain's Gary Hunt and Australia's Rhiannan Iffland in Innis Mor, Ireland yesterday.

The season's first dives from nearly three times the height of the Olympic platform and took place surrounded by Irish wilderness at the fabled "Serpent's Lair” on the Aran Island's.

The almost perfectly rectangular "blowhole,” which spurts out water each day as high tide approaches, was the ideal opening stage for this year's Cliff Diving season, counting the World Series' 60th event.

Image from the Reuters video on the 2017 Cliff Diving World Series opening event in Ireland.

While for the men this was the third time the cliff diving elite returned to this place after 2012 and 2014, the women competed for the first time at this extraordinary pool-like venue.

Hunt proved once more to be world-class by winning the first stop of the season. Britain's Blake Aldridge finished in second and Andy Jones of the US completed the podium in third.

In the women's category Iffland ended up on top of the podium. — Reuters