Cătălin Preda

On 14 July, at the stop of the 2019 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series held in Beirut, Lebanon, Preda won the bronze medal with a score of 322.75 points, which was less than 50 points behind gold medalist Gary Hunt of Great Britain and less than 10 points behind silver medalist David Colturi of the United States.[3] At the 2019 World Aquatics Championships, held later in July in Gwangju, South Korea, he competed in the 27-metre high dive, scoring a total of 234.40 points to place fourteenth overall.[4]

A little over two years later, in June 2021 and following a disrupted competition calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Preda achieved his first win at a Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series stop, winning the gold medal at the stop in Saint-Raphaël, France.[5] By the conclusion of the 2021 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, he had achieved an overall third-place standing across all stops of the World Series, earning his first assignment as a permanent diver in a Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series for the 2022 World Series.[6] In December the same year, he won the silver medal in the 27-metre high dive at the Abu Dhabi Aquatics Festival, held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, with a score of 433.55 points, finishing 3.35 points behind gold medalist Aidan Heslop of Great Britain and 1.55 points ahead of fellow Romanian and bronze medalist Constantin Popovici.[7][8]

At the stop of the 2022 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series held in June in Paris, France, Preda won the gold medal with a score of 470.50 points.[9] His score ranked as the highest ever achieved at a single Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series stop, setting a new record.[10] By the end of competition at the World Series stop held in August in Oslo, Norway, he had earned a total of 600 ranking points across the first four stops of the World Series circuit, ranking as the overall number one male competitor, 30 points ahead of second-ranked Gary Hunt and 84 points ahead of third-ranked Aidan Heslop.[11]

For the 2022 European Aquatics Championships, held in August in Rome, Italy, event organizers added high diving to the program for the first time in the history of the LEN European Aquatics Championships, with men competing from a height of 27 metres.[12][13][14] At the end of the first round of competition on 18 August, he ranked first with a score of 82.60 points, 1.40 points ahead of Gary Hunt.[15] The following day, he brought his total score up to 217.80, ranking first by 5.60 points at the end of the second round of competition.[16] On the third and final day, 20 August, he earned an additional 218.40 points over the third and fourth rounds of competition for a total score of 436.20 points, which was 19.50 points behind Constantin Popovici and 19.75 points ahead of Alessandro De Rose of Italy and earned him the first silver medal in a male high diving event at a LEN European Aquatics Championships.[14][17][18][19]

Following his performances at the European Championships, Preda continued on the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series circuit at the stop held on 27 August in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he retained his overall first-rank amongst male competitors across all stops of the circuit with a score of 760 points and his record of 470.50 points from the Paris stop of the circuit was broken by Constantin Popovici who scored 481.50 points.[20] On 11 September, at the World Series stop in Sisikon, Switzerland, he placed fourth and retained his overall first-rank.[21] One week later, on 18 September at the World Series stop in Polignano a Mare, Italy, he won the bronze medal with a score of 427.20 points, increased his overall score to 1000 points, and dropped in rankings to third overall.[22] In October, at the World Series stop contested in Sydney, he won the bronze medal.[23]