About 60 jumpers from as far as Mataura popped their best manus at the city’s pool yesterday as part of an official qualifier for the Z Manu World Champs Grand Final, to be held in Auckland in March.
It was the first time an official qualifier had been held in Dunedin and the only event in the lower South Island.
Organiser Komene Cassidy said a manu was a way of jumping into water that involved creating a V-shape with your body so your butt touched the water first.
As you hit the water, you flattened out your body very quickly to create a vacuum above your stomach that rushed water upwards.
One of the age-group winners, who now qualified for the grand final in Auckland, had popped a manu so big the splash was "probably about 4 inches from the top of the roof of the Moana Pool".
"He was just shy of the roof, he was unlucky not to have got the roof."
Those who qualified yesterday were "right up there" and had a great chance at winning, Mr Cassidy said.
