It’s All About Six
The number six seems to be crucial in the life of Alain Kohl.
He started his diving career at the age of six in the late 1980s. In 2008, six years after he changed from Olympic diving to cliff diving, he finished three of the most prestigious competitions – Red Bull Cliff Diving at Lake Wolfgang (AUT), Hamburg (GER) and Polignano a Mare (ITA) – in sixth place. The Italian city was located in last year’s series as well and the 27-year-old took his best result in the Mecca of European cliff diving – another sixth place.
Before he started work as a correctional facility officer in Luxembourg two years ago – "this job offers the best training possibilities for me as my days start but also end early" – Kohl spent his time in uniform. For how long? Well, rumours say that it was about...six years!
In 2007 he sustained a broken tail bone during cliff diving. An injury that kept him from sitting but not from diving! However it took him about a year to fully recover and dive without any pain.
The Luxembourgian finished the 2009 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in 11th position, five points ahead of the injured Colombian Eber Pava. "The season was not like I expected it to be. I hoped for another season like 2008, where I was able to take a middle position. I don't know what went wrong. However, I'll keep on working on my performance during the off-season and hope to come back stronger."
