GARY Hunt's remarkable run of Red Bull World Cliff Diving titles is under massive threat - from another former Southampton Academy diver!

Hunt has won six of the eight championships, and been runner-up in the other two.

But he now trails new leader Blake Aldridge by 20 points going into the final two rounds of the 2017 series.

Aldridge leapt to the top of the leaderboard after winning the fourth round in Texas - his first victory in the competition since 2014.

He now stands on the brink of achieving his "dream" and adding the World cliff diving title to the European one he lifted in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Aldridge, second in Texas in 2016 behind Jonathan Paredes, turned the tables on his rival from Mexico with the final dive of the day.

As a result. he became the fourth different winner in four events this season.

In what was one of the closest finals from the 27m platform ever, only eleven points separated the top seven divers, and an enthusiastic crowd of 9,000 fans on boats, kayaks and paddleboards cheered American David Colturi into third place at Possum Kingdom Lake, USA.

Hunt, aiming to win the title for the fourth year running, was fifth.

"I didn’t miss a dive all weekend and I feel like I deserve to win," Aldridge said.

"The standard was absolutely phenomenal.

"It’s been a long time since my last victory in 2014 in Cuba. So I waited a long time for this and I’m just super happy with the way I performed.

"My dream has always been to win the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, so to have an opportunity to do this this year is a great one.

"Hopefully I can go to the next two stops and I can finish on the podium and secure a top-three spot and maybe even win the Series."

Parades is now just 10 points behind Hunt in the overall standings, with the penultimate event of the year at Mostar in Bosnia on September 16.

The divers then have to wait over a month for the last event, in Chile on October 21.