Professional cliff diver sees the world from 27 meters

Each time Steven LoBue (HHS’09) jumps off a 27-meter diving platform, it’s as if he’s leapt from an eight-story building. He hurtles through the air, accelerating from zero to 55 mph in less than three seconds before entering the water — feet first, always.

“From the heights we jump, the elbows, wrists, shoulders are not strong enough to withstand the impact,” LoBue says. “Entering the water just a few degrees off vertical can result in injury.”

LoBue knows the dangers of the extreme sport firsthand. He fractured his tailbone in 2011 during tryouts for the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series. Despite the injury, he performed the same dive the following day and clinched the final qualification spot on the tour. He has been competing in front of crowds of 75,000 in some of the most exotic locations in the world ever since.

Some might call him lucky, but LoBue dismisses luck. “There’s nothing lucky about the amount of free time and social life I’ve pushed to the side to train and compete in this sport.”

He started diving at age 7, competing on a junior Olympic team throughout childhood. The New Jersey native’s transition to college was tough. He chose Purdue for diving first, education second. It wasn’t until he switched his major to physical education in his sophomore year that he felt motivated by his schoolwork.

“I have an undying passion for diving,” says LoBue. “Once I found that major, I was committed to becoming a coach and helping athletes who are equally passionate about what I love.”

He performed his first high dives in college as part of a summer water show at Indiana Beach in Monticello, Indiana. He recruited Boilermaker diving teammates David Colturi (HHS’11) and Kyle Mitrione (LA’11) to perform in the stunt show, and the two later joined him on the Red Bull circuit, where LoBue is known as the “king of the somersaults” — he’s able to perform five in a single dive.

Until high diving becomes an Olympic sport — LoBue has hope for a 2024 bid for the sport, if not for himself as an athlete — the ultimate competition for high divers is the FINA World Championships, where LoBue won gold last summer, earning him accolades as FINA’s Best Male High Diver 2017.

“It was a moment 25 years in the making,” says LoBue. “It totally validates the amount of time I’ve put into training and the skills I’ve acquired.”