By Amy Cavender
Canadian high diver, Molly Carlson, has had a terrifying fall at 22 meters which sent her plunging awkwardly into the ocean at the second stop of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in Italy.
The 26-year-old Olympic athlete has withdrawn from the event and has taken to social media to share the footage of the stomach-curdling incident.
In the video, Carlson strides towards the edge of the diving board and as she lands to launch herself for her final jump both feet slip off the edge of the platform, causing her knees to buckle and she starts to fall in a semi-somersault from a height of a seven-story building.
Miraculously, she managed to rotate her body quick enough to land in the ocean feet first.
鈥淪cariest moment of my life,鈥 she captioned her Instagram post.
鈥淚t breaks my heart to announce that I will not be competing in the second stop of the @redbullcliffdiving World Series here in Italy as I鈥檝e suffered a really scary accident. One of my nightmares came true.
鈥淔irst of all I am so grateful to be okay. I never imagined in my life that I would ever slip off of a high diving platform but it happened.
鈥淚鈥檓 SHOCKED at my reflex skills to find my feet like a cat and be okay. Unfortunately on the takeoff I got a massive bruise on my foot. I considered powering through and diving on it but it just wasn鈥檛 the right choice for my health.
鈥淭hank you to everyone in advance for your kind words, I am okay. Italy, I鈥檓 so glad I still got a few beautiful dives in xoxo, until next time, Ciao.鈥
The video was flooded with comments from concerned followers, many impressed by Carlson鈥檚 reaction to the fall.
鈥淧robably the best save in history of cliffdiving 馃敟馃敟,鈥 one person wrote.
鈥淭hat spot timing and cat twist couldn鈥檛 have been better. Your ability to act on the fly is tremendous. Well done. I respect this so much,鈥 another commented.
Carlson posted a second video which showed high definition slow motion footage of the fall and clarified that she slipped due to mis-measuring her run up.
鈥淧SA: Always measure your run up correctly 馃拃,鈥 she captioned the video.
鈥淭his new angle of my near death experience is insane . . . This angle really helped me understand that my toes were already going to be past the platform when I landed because I didn鈥檛 measure my run up with 100% power. And then when I went for the dive I gave it 200% power 馃.鈥