A professional cliff diver has spoken out about an accident she called the “scariest moment of my life.”

Molly Carlson slipped off a 72-foot platform at the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series Saturday in Italy and found herself free-falling into the water in a near-death experience. 

“One of my nightmares came true,” the 26-year-old wrote in a candid Instagram post featuring footage of the incident.

“First 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. I’m SHOCKED at my reflex skills to find my feet like a cat and be okay.”

She then posted another angle of the slip on Instagram, writing: “This 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’t measure my run up with 100% power. And then when I went for the dive I gave it 200% power.”

On Instagram, Carlson also announced she would not be competing in the second stop of the World Series due to the incident. 

“Unfortunately on the takeoff I got a massive bruise on my foot,” Carlson wrote. “I considered powering through and diving on it but it just wasn’t the right choice for my health.”

A native of Ontario, Carlson is a member of the Canadian senior national high diving team. 

She placed second at the 2022, 2023 and 2024 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, and is a 29-time world medalist. 

Carlson chronicles much of her career on social media, and has 3.9 million followers on TikTok and 679,000 on Instagram. 

Both of her posts about the horrifying accident went viral on Instagram, receiving a combined 188,000 likes. 

“Thank you to everyone in advance for your kind words, I am okay,” Carlson wrote. “Italy, I’m so glad I still got a few beautiful dives in.”