Lysanne Richard
A diver by mistake, Lysanne Richard learned from an early age to stay on top of what life throws at her: "My parents wanted to register me for swimming class, but there was no more room in my age group, so diving it was. Diving before I got into swimming! Eventually I fell in love with it, even though I had a hard time getting out of the water and never took swimming lessons afterwards, but I learned to manage."
Balance problems with her inner ears stopped her from diving at age 13 and it was 20 years later that the professional circus performer decided to take diving lessons again and apply for the World Series.
Since her first appearance on the competitive 21m platform during the debut year of the women's World Series in 2014 - while still breastfeeding her youngest daughter - the former character at Cirque du Soleil has collected the second most podiums in the World Series in the women's division: 14, including three wins in just 22 starts.
Richard leads the statistics for the most second places (six), and in the 2019 season finished on the podium five out of six times. Despite missing one event due to her recurring neck problems, the Canadian secured third place overall for the second season running.
An ambassador for the sport of cliff diving in her home country, the 39-year-old is the mastermind behind the high diving platforms in Montreal's Olympic diving facilities, a high diving tower in the outdoor swimming pool at Parc Jean-Drapeau, as well as a training centre in the countryside with a 22m tower. Together with the first high dive in her native region in the Saguenay Fjord, all these efforts share the same goal: make cliff diving more accessible and better known while creating a safer training environment for future generations.
Besides following the tough training regimen for an extreme sport and bringing up three kids, Richard works as a TV expert, published her biography in 2020, speaks at conferences and still finds time to enjoy her mountain biking and hiking passion, the latter mostly with her sister.
Strength and balance training quite often includes her children, who use mummy as equipment or obstacle, trampoline partner and love to watch Lysanne practise the Cyr wheel across the neighbourhood.
A creative mind by nature, the oldest female diver to win at the age of 36 defines herself as a creator of wind: "We create a wind given the speed that we reach in the air - I am always conquering this wind."
Successfully juggling and balancing all these aspects of her life make Lysanne Richard a candidate for conquering the overall World Series crown despite being the oldest diver in the permanent line-up in 2021.
Balance problems with her inner ears stopped her from diving at age 13 and it was 20 years later that the professional circus performer decided to take diving lessons again and apply for the World Series.
Since her first appearance on the competitive 21m platform during the debut year of the women's World Series in 2014 - while still breastfeeding her youngest daughter - the former character at Cirque du Soleil has collected the second most podiums in the World Series in the women's division: 14, including three wins in just 22 starts.
Richard leads the statistics for the most second places (six), and in the 2019 season finished on the podium five out of six times. Despite missing one event due to her recurring neck problems, the Canadian secured third place overall for the second season running.
An ambassador for the sport of cliff diving in her home country, the 39-year-old is the mastermind behind the high diving platforms in Montreal's Olympic diving facilities, a high diving tower in the outdoor swimming pool at Parc Jean-Drapeau, as well as a training centre in the countryside with a 22m tower. Together with the first high dive in her native region in the Saguenay Fjord, all these efforts share the same goal: make cliff diving more accessible and better known while creating a safer training environment for future generations.
Besides following the tough training regimen for an extreme sport and bringing up three kids, Richard works as a TV expert, published her biography in 2020, speaks at conferences and still finds time to enjoy her mountain biking and hiking passion, the latter mostly with her sister.
Strength and balance training quite often includes her children, who use mummy as equipment or obstacle, trampoline partner and love to watch Lysanne practise the Cyr wheel across the neighbourhood.
A creative mind by nature, the oldest female diver to win at the age of 36 defines herself as a creator of wind: "We create a wind given the speed that we reach in the air - I am always conquering this wind."
Successfully juggling and balancing all these aspects of her life make Lysanne Richard a candidate for conquering the overall World Series crown despite being the oldest diver in the permanent line-up in 2021.