Aussie cliff diver Vali Graham suffered a slew of nasty injuries after attempting a world record death dive off Minnehaha Falls (139-foot) in the Blue Mountains of Australia:
“After sending this monster 139 foot cliff I was knocked unconscious. I sustained a burst my eardrum and fractured my: T11 vertebrae, sternum, and a small fracture on my skull near my burst eardrum.”
Graham is a practitioner of Døds Diving which is an extreme form of freestyle diving originating from Norway where athletes jump from heights typically between 10 to 15 meters and just before impacting the water curl into a fetal position landing feet and hands first, somewhere between a bellyflop and cannonball style. Graham over-rotated and entered the water in a pike position that exposed his neck and back to extreme blunt force. Remarkably, he was able to walk to his car after regaining consciousness:
“After regaining consciousness I pulled myself out of the water and walked a steep 1.2km out to our car where my friends took me to hospital. The support was amazing, I’ve had surgery on my back and sternum and was walking 2 days after surgery. Back at home now, on my feet and grateful for life, good friends, family and God.”
While most would call it quits after suffering such painful injuries, Graham is sees the incident as learning experience and plans to return to the sport:
“A set back is an opportunity to show how bad your really want it and I am honestly mentally feeling amazing, ready to rebuild my body better than ever and come back stronger, a long way to go but excited for the journey.”