What a day! The stage was set for a thrilling showdown at the final stop of the 2018 season in Polignano a Mare, Italy, and the divers certainly didn't disappoint. The men and women battled it out one last time in what was the closest ever title fight, with Gary Hunt and Rhiannan Iffland eventually proving too good for their rivals in front of 70,000 passionate fans. See you next season!
A thrilling finish. For the second season in a row the men's title goes right down to final dive. It looked like Hunt had no chance three stops in, but four wins in a row have sensationally rocketed him to his 7th World Series title. What a comeback, what a finale. Congratulations also to Steven LoBue and Jonathan Paredes who made it an amazing battle right to the end.
GARY HUNT WINS TO CLAIM HIS 7TH WORLD SERIES TITLE!
So, this is it. It all comes down to this. Gary Hunt vs Steven LoBue. Hunt now needs to win to take the title, or the American will win his first World Series championship.
Kris Kolanus picks up low scores after an over rotation. Michal Navratil follows that with a solid final effort to move into third.
The crowd are making a deafening noise for local hero Alessandro De Rose. Not bad from the Italian, but no repeat of last year's memorable victory here.
A run up, 5 somersaults and a rip entry from the American. Big scores from the judges. 9s and 8.5s and he surges into the lead. That's what he needed to put the pressure on Hunt.
This is a huge dive coming up, the biggest of Steven LoBue's career. He needs to finish ahead of Gary Hunt to win his first title.
Very neat from Andy Jones. 8s for the big American will push him up into 3rd place.
7.5s for Blake Aldridge, but here comes Jonathan Paredes with a near-perfect final dive. It's so good that one of the judges pulls out a 10, but he'll keep three 9.5s. Amazing! The Mexican is into the lead with six divers left.
Now Sergio Guzman fancies getting in on the action. His Reverse 4 Somersaults brings up 8.5s from the panel of judges and he moves into second place.
Constantin Popovici fires into a huge lead after a stunning final dive. Three 9s and the Romanian is another wildcard who's really impressed this season.
Nice dive from Oleksiy Prygorov, but he sends up a bit too much splash for the judges' liking. Just 6s for the Ukrainian.
Aidan Heslop, the youngest ever World Series diver at 16, steps onto the platform and twists his way brilliantly to three 8s. What a prospect for the future he is!
Owen Weymouth is first up in the men's final, but he touches his head on the platform and gets a bit lost in the air. It's a heavy entry for the Brit, and low scores only.
What a fitting way to finish the season. It's a sensational dive from the Australian and she collects 9s from the judges to make it a record total score. She's not had it all her own way this season, but she's dug deep and pulled it out of the bag again. That's a hat-trick of titles now, and she becomes the most successful female in World Series history.
What a day! The stage was set for a thrilling showdown at the final stop of the 2018 season in Polignano a Mare, Italy, and the divers certainly didn't disappoint. The men and women battled it out one last time in what was the closest ever title fight, with Gary Hunt and Rhiannan Iffland eventually proving too good for their rivals in front of 70,000 passionate fans. See you next season!