At age 17, Merten moved abroad to join the cast of The House of Dancing Water, a water-based acrobatic show in Macau.[2] She performed with the show for two years and began cliff diving in 2015.[4]
When Merten joined the 2016 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series as a season regular, she became the youngest diver to compete in the series' permanent line up at age 21.[2] After the first five dives of the seven-dive season, she was ranked fourth overall.[5] After placing second in the final stop of the season, Merten placed fourth in the series.[6] She placed second in women's 20m at the FINA High Diving World Cup 2016, with 229.60 points, behind Lysanne Richard's 253.80 points.[7][8]
Merten placed second overall in the 2017 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, behind fellow Australian Rhiannan Iffland, and had four podium finishes that season.[9] She placed seventh in women's high diving at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships[10] and eight at the 2017 FINA High Diving World Cup.[11] Since 2017, Merten has been playing the Running Woman in the touring production of Cirque du Soleil's Luzia.[12] The role involves hoop diving and a Chinese pole.[13]