Free Position In Diving

The free position in diving is one of the four diving positions, alongside pike position, tuck position and straight position.

The free position is used exclusively on twisting dives which involve either 1 or 1 ½ somersaults.

The character used to donate a dive in free position is D. So the dive number for a forward 1 ½ somersaults, 1 twist in the free position is 5132D.

Twisting dives in free position are also sometimes performed from an armstand starting position on a platform.

The diving code for an armstand back 1 ½ somersaults, 1/2 twist in free position would be 6241D.

The basics of the free position in diving

The free position is the only diving position which isn’t recognisable by a specific body shape.

Instead, a dive is in free position if the diver is combining two or all of the other three diving positions in their twisting dive.

A diver in the free position can bend their legs or hips without being penalised by the judges.

The difficulty of the free position in diving

The difficulty of a dive using the free position is judged by the number of twists involved.

The more twists in the dive, assuming it is using just 1 1/2 somersaults to count as diving in free position, the higher the tariff.

While the tuck dive is occasionally used in a twisting dive, the most common combination of positions is pike and straight.