Cyprus, Egypt, Spain, Croatia, Korea, United States or Thailand -among other countries- will host different depth and pool championships that will load the agenda of the International Association for the Development of APNEA (AIDA) in these coming weeks. Freediving enthusiasts will even have the opportunity to witness the amazing world record attempts that will also be attempted fron the 10th to the 20th of this month in the Philippines.
Freediving is an international competitive sport. Aleix Segura, world champion freediver in static freediving in 2015 and world record holder in static freediving reminds SportsIn that “freediving figures in the annals of history as a sport, becoming Olympic in the Paris 1900 Games, a milestone that marked a before and after for the momentum of this discipline”.
Professional freedivers take advantage of the body’s diving adaptations to reach depths of even 136 meter or to reach extreme depths. These diving reflexes help conserve oxygen by restricting blood flow to the extremities, conserving it for vital organs. World champion Aleix Segura explains that it’s about “achieving maximum capabilities by enduring underwater without breathing in basic magnitudes. It is athletics underwater”.
TYPES OF APNEA
Static Apnea: Static apnea is a discipline in which a person holds his breath underwater for as long as possible and does not need to swim any distance.
Dynamic Apnea: Dynamic apnea can be done with or without fins and requires maximum covered distance horizontally underwater, with holding one breath only, with or without fins.
Constant weight freediving: In this discipline, the diver descends and ascends with his fins or with the breast strokes or changing his weight. Only one grip on the rope is allowed to stop the descent and start the ascent. Ultimately, the goal here is to swim down to the maximum depth by your own means.
Free immersion: Here, the freediver descends and ascends without fins with his own arm strength, pulling on the rope.
Variable weight freediving: The diver descends with the aid of a ballast weight and ascends with his own arm and leg strength, either by pulling on the rope or not.
Freediving without limits: The freediver descends and ascends with the method of his choice and usually does so propelled by a machine.
According to Aleix Segura, “the differences between one discipline and the other are the magnitudes explored and the equipment used. For example, static freediving only measures without breathing, while dynamic freediving, with or without fins, measures distance”.
APNEA STARS
Apnea is a situation in which the body is in an extreme situation, Segura says that “you have to be very focused to govern the body and metabolism in such an extreme situation that endangers consciousness.
Each type of discipline has its stars, in the pool competitions: in static apnea the male world record is held by Stéphane Mifsud, this Frenchman has a time of 11 minutes and 35 seconds. The women’s world record is held by Natalia Molchanova, this Russian has a mark of 9 minutes and 2 seconds.
In dynamic apnea, in monofin, Guillame Boadilla and Magdalena Solich-Talanda are the world records holders. In the finless modality, Mateusz Malina and Julia Kozerska hold those records and in bialetas Bi finns, Mateusz Malina and Magdalena Solich-Talanda repeat again.
In depth competitions disciplines: In constant weight, Alexey Molchanov and Alessia Zecchini are the record-holding freedivers in monofin. William Trubridge and Kateryna Sadurska hold the record in finless and Alexey Molchanov and Alenka Artnik are the best with bi-fins.
In free diving free immersion Petar Klovar and Fatima Korok dominate the discipline. Alexey Molchanov repeats again in variable weight and together with Nanja Van der Broek hold the records in this discipline. Finally, Herbert Nitsch and Tanya Streeter are the best in unlimited freediving.
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF FREEDIVING
AIDA has become, with its president Sasa Jeremic at the head, the largest organizer of international freediving competitions, rules and regulations. AIDA freedivers also participate in scientific studies on freediving to better understand the human body’s reaction to deep diving and thus improve safety guidelines and standards. Aleix Segura points out that “AIDA has communication channels in every department that every member can turn to, with competent people in the medical, sporting and organizational fields.” AIDA’s goal is to tell the world that freediving is much more than just records.
